Academic Offerings
New for 2025-2026
PDF & Archive
Course Description by Course Code
ANT101H5: Introduction to Biological Anthropology and Archaeology
Anthropology is the global and holistic study of human biology and behaviour, and includes four subfields: biological anthropology, archaeology, sociocultural anthropology and linguistic anthropology. The material covered is directed to answering the question: What makes us human? This course is a survey of biological anthropology and archaeology.
ANT102H5: Introduction to Sociocultural and Linguistic Anthropology
Anthropology is the global and holistic study of human biology and behaviour, and includes four subfields: biological anthropology, archaeology, sociocultural anthropology and linguistic anthropology. The material covered is directed to answering the question: What makes us human? This course is a survey of sociocultural and linguistic anthropology. In some years, students may have the option of participating in an international learning experience during Reading Week that will have an additional cost and application process.
ANT200H5: Introduction to the Practice of Archaeology
Archaeological theory, method and technique. Principles of scientific research will be applied to archaeological information. The course will cover the following topics: how archaeology applies the scientific method; how archaeological projects are planned and organized; how archaeological data are recovered through survey, excavation and other means; how archaeological data are organized and analyzed to produce information about the human past; the major theoretical paradigms that archaeologists use to interpret the human past.
ANT201H5: World Archaeology
Archaeological survey of human cultural development from a global perspective, including: the elaboration of material culture; the expansion of social inequality; the development of diverse food procurement (hunter-gatherer-fisher) and food production (herding-agricultural) economies; and the changes in patterns of mobility over time and between world areas, with the growth of village and city life. Students will engage with the current state of archaeological research and some of the major issues archaeologists address in their recreations of archaeologically-based human history.
ANT202H5: Biological Anthropology: Human Variation and Adaptation
Biological anthropology deals with the diversity and evolution of human beings and their living and fossil relatives, and how they have adapted to their environments. This course will introduce students to basic concepts of human genetics and Mendelian inheritance. The course will also describe the biological and evolutionary factors that have produced the fascinating diversity observed in human populations, and illustrate different ways in which humans have adapted to their environments.
ANT203H5: Biological Anthropology: Primatology and Palaeoanthropology
Biological anthropology deals with the diversity and evolution of human beings and their living and fossil relatives, and how they have adapted to their environments. This course will introduce students to the remarkable biological diversity of our taxonomic order: the primates. The course will also discuss the rich fossil evidence for human evolution and its interpretation.
ANT204H5: Sociocultural Anthropology
A general introductory course emphasizing social and political organization, economics, and the development of theory. Specific cases of social dynamics are drawn from both traditional and contemporary societies.
ANT205H5: Introduction to Forensic Anthropology
Introduction to the field of forensic anthropology. Outlines the areas in which forensic anthropologists may contribute to a death investigation and introduces basic concepts relating to the recovery and analysis of human remains.
ANT206H5: Culture and Communication
Introduction to linguistic anthropology and sociolinguistics. This includes: the issue of meaning in language, the use of language in context, the role of language in the organization of human activity, language and identity, the sequential organization of talk-in-interaction.
ANT207H5: Being Human: Classic Thought on Self and Society
The question of what it means to be human has been at the core of anthropology for over two centuries, and it remains as pressing now as it ever was. This course introduces students to some classic attempts at addressing this question with specific reference to the nature of personhood and social life. By engaging with the writings of Marx, Weber, Freud, and DeBeauvoir among other great thinkers of the modern age, students will develop deeper knowledge of the major theories guiding anthropological research. We will pay close attention to how arguments are constructed in these texts and focus on the methodologies that these pioneers of social thought developed in their inquiries. The course covers enduring topics ranging from the production of social inequality, what it means to be an individual, how collective life is shaped by economic markets, and the role of religion in shaping human experience, to develop an understanding of central issues facing the world today.
ANT208H5: The Culture Machine: The Anthropology of Everyday Life
This course will introduce students to culture and social theory via the lens of popular culture. Commodities, advertising, and new technologies will be considered in light of their cultural content. The course may consider the marketing of identities, gender, sexualities, bodies, ethnicity, religion, and ideology, as well as resistance.
ANT209H5: War, Trade and Aid: The Anthropology of Global Intervention
This course explores how anthropology approaches the study of various interventions into human life and society. These forms of intervention--nation building, human rights, and development--differ in the scale and scope of their projects and in what they hope to accomplish. They also have much in common. Each is explicitly concerned with improving the conditions under which people live, and yet each has also been criticized for making things worse rather than better. This course will explore why this might be the case by focusing on examples taken from around the world.
ANT210H5: Fantasies, Hoaxes and Misrepresentations of the Ancient World
Have you ever wondered why television programs like Ancient Aliens are so popular or if they have any merit? Have you also wondered why outrageous ideas about the human past seem to be more popular than the message science presents? This course critically evaluates the anatomy of significant hoaxes, outrageous claims, and just plain old "bad archaeology" in popular culture. Students will develop the tools to critically evaluate potential hoaxes and fictional accounts of the past by investigating a wide variety of cases that range from attempts to rewrite history using fake discoveries, to the simply outrageous claims created in order to promote racist agendas, to make money, or just for the fun of duping an unsuspecting public.
ANT211H5: Sex, Evolution and Behaviour
This course provides an introduction to the evolutionary significance of mating behaviours and sexual reproduction in modern humans. Students will explore human sexual behaviour with an emphasis on the evolutionary explanations for our mating strategies in relation to other primates. Through lectures, films and readings students will examine such topics as sexual selection, anatomy, sexual development, social organization, and mating patterns.
ANT214H5: Anthropology of Food and Nutrition
This course explores human food use and nutrition from a broad anthropological perspective. It examines archaeological evidence of dietary patterns of human ancestors and examines contemporary phenomena such as the preference for sweetness and lactase persistence that are the legacy of ancestral adaptations. It explores significant food revolutions, from the origins of agriculture to the relatively recent phenomenon of biotechnological food production and looks at both the positive and negative effects of these changes on patterns of human growth and health. The goal of the course is to provide students with a basic understanding of nutrition science that is contextualized in contemporary anthropological debates about the costs of changing food systems.
ANT215H5: How Should One Live? An Introduction to the Anthropology of Ethics
Few questions are more obviously important than that which Socrates poses in Plato's Republic: "how should one live?" This course considers the various ways this question has been asked and the answers it has received across a range of very different contexts. It begins with Socrates' address to the Athenian assembly in The Apology and his conclusion that the examined life is the only one worth living. We then turn to the Greek past and the Homeric background against which the reflective life, that Socrates exemplified, stood in stark contrast. With this background in place we will proceed to consider the various ways in which the question of how one should live has been answered across of a range of social settings. Drawing on ethnography as well journalism and documentary film we will consider, for instance, Rastafarianism, Jainism, living "off-grid" in North America, deaf communities in the US, transgenderism, and non-binary gender identity.
ANT216H5: Racketeers, Smugglers and Pirates: Anthropology of Illegality
This course will explore anthropological approaches to the study of various forms of illegal activities. Denaturalizing the state-imposed categories of legality and illegality, the course will examine how the legal-illegal divide is constructed contingently, and unpack moralities, inequalities, precarities, and forms of politics that illegal activities both rely on and make possible. The course will bring together recent ethnographies of racketeering, gang violence, piracy, human trafficking and contraband smuggling from different world regions.
ANT218H5: The Social Conquest of Earth
This course is a quest for the secret of human uniqueness. The success of Homo sapiens, has been described as "a spectacular evolutionary anomaly" that has resulted in human domination of the Earth's biosphere. We will use the comparative method to journey through the Animal Kingdom in hopes of discovering the preadaptive elements that enabled such incredible evolutionary success. On our way we will survey chimpanzee warfare, tool using octopuses, eusocial ants, and night-time hunter-gatherer sentinels - all of which will allow us to better understand the forces that shaped unparalleled cooperative networks in humans. Finally, we will investigate the cognitive and behavioural blessings and curses associated with the drive to belong to a group. The goal of the course is to equip students with a greater understanding of the human condition - and how to leverage this understanding to improve their lives.
ANT220H5: Introduction to the Anthropology of Health
This course introduces students to the many strategies anthropologists use to understand patterns of health and disease in human populations through time. It will serve as an entry point into the Anthropology of Health focus and will be a prerequisite for later courses in Growth and Development, Infectious Disease, and the Advanced Seminar in the Anthropology of Health. In this course, the concept of health is examined using bioarchaeology, biomedicine, medical anthropology, and epidemiology. The course examines evolutionary, epigenetic, and life history approaches to understanding chronic disease risk in human populations, culminating in an investigation of the role of poverty and social inequality on disease burden. Although the course is designed as an introduction to the Health focus, it is suitable for students seeking training in pre-health disciplines and is open to all students possessing the necessary prerequisites.
ANT221H5: The Trust Paradox
The ultimate question that all life is bound to ask is: how do I survive? Our species, evolved a uniquely human answer, which led to our ascendance as the most dominant on the planet but at what cost? This course explores a central human paradox: how altruism, community, kindness, and war and genocide are all driven by the same core adaptation. We'll call this the Trust Paradox and the evolution of this suite of traits, best described as coalitionary cognition, is one of the most complex and ancient in our species. We will explore how this, often imperceptible drive, is responsible for our capacity for both cooperation and competition, and allowed us to navigate increasingly complex social landscapes. But in our vast modern world, has this blessing become a curse?
ANT222H5: Engineering Eden: Human-Environment Interactions from Prehistory to Present
Have you ever wondered what makes our species so different from other life on this planet? Have we always innovated and imagined our worlds? Why do we manipulate and transform our surroundings? How did we reach our current ecological predicament - termed the Anthropocene - where we now impact every ecological system on earth? Based on our past, what is the future of our species? Overpopulation and resource scarcity? Or, are we about to usher in an age of abundance? This course seeks to explore these questions through the lens of archaeology. Using a wide-range of scientific and social science datasets we will consider the development and intensification of human-environment interactions through time, using the metaphor of Eden (an idealized place of plenty) to frame the course modules.
ANT223H5: Anthropology of Global Challenges
This course reviews anthropological approaches to the critical study of pressing global challenges, including, armed conflicts, forced migration and refugee movements, surveillance and border enforcement regimes, climate change and environmental degradation, energy politics, food and water insecurities, financial crises and growing economic inequalities. To provide students with a solid grounding in political and legal anthropology, the course will also cover key anthropological works on the state, bureaucracy, policy, and law. The course serves as a gateway to the focus on Politics, Policy and Law (PPL).
ANT241H5: Anthropology and the Indigenous Peoples of Turtle Island (in Canada)
This course will examine the relationship between the field of anthropology and Indigenous people of Turtle Island. We will examine the past, present, and future manifestations of this relationship. This course will emphasize Indigenous, decolonial, and community scholars. Students will be encouraged to think critically and reflect on their own world views.
ANT280H5: Special Topics in Biological Anthropology and Archaeology
Special course on selected topics in biological anthropology and/or archaeology; focus of topic changes each year. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
ANT281H5: Special Topics in Sociocultural and Linguistic Anthropology
Special course on selected topics in sociocultural and/or linguistic anthropology; focus of topic changes each year. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
ANT299H5: Research Opportunity Program
This courses provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their second year to work in the research project of a professor in return for 299H5 course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Based on the nature of the project, projects may satisfy the Sciences or Social Sciences distribution requirement. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
ANT299Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This courses provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their second year to work in the research project of a professor in return for 299Y course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Based on the nature of the project, projects may satisfy the Sciences or Social Sciences distribution requirement. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
ANT300H5: Cultural Heritage Management: The Past in the Present and for the Future
Cultural Heritage Management, also known as cultural resource management or applied archaeology, aims to protect traces of the past such as artifacts, archaeological sites and cultural landscapes, that have meaning for people in the present. This course takes a broad look at cultural heritage, why it matters in the present, and why we need to preserve aspects of it for the future. Topics may include stakeholders and the politics of the past, mechanisms for the protection of heritage and archaeological sites, the heritage management industry, and the methods used to identify, document, and mitigate impacts to archaeological sites, and to preserve the materials recovered.
ANT306H5: Forensic Anthropology Field School
Introduction to the field of forensic anthropological field techniques and scene interpretation. A 2-week field school will be held on the U of T Mississauga campus (Monday to Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., two weeks in August). Weekly 2-hour classes will be held during the fall term. In these classes, students will examine casts, maps, photos and other evidence collected in the field, for the purposes of scene reconstruction and presentation in court. Limited Enrolment and Application Process: see Anthropology department website for more details.
ANT310H5: Political Anthropology of Ancient States
Today most people live in state-level societies. But 8,000 years ago, no one did. Why such a dramatic change? This comparative analysis of ancient, complexly organized societies is focused on understanding the processes involved in the functioning of states, examining how various political, social, economic, and religious orientations affected state information, cohesion, maintenance and dissolution. What were the range of alternatives explored in the earliest and later complexly organized societies that developed around the world?
ANT312H5: Archaeological Analysis
This course will introduce the process of archaeological research, from project design through report write-up. The student will create a project proposal, choose methods of survey and excavation, describe and organize data for analysis, and summarize findings in a project report.
ANT313H5: China, Korea and Japan in Prehistory
The exploration of the remarkable prehistories of China, the Koreas and Japan challenge western thought on agricultural origins, complex hunter-gatherers, urbanization and the development of centralized authority. This course evaluates current thinking about these issues in the three regions and examines the impact of local archaeological practice on the construction of narratives about the past.
ANT316H5: South Asian Archaeology
This course surveys the archaeology of South Asia (modern-day India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and northern regions) from the Palaeolithic to the Medieval Period (+200,000 ya to ca. 1600 CE/AD) using a comparative framework. South Asia is a place where many external cultural traditions mixed with indigenous traditions to create new socioeconomic and sociopolitical entities and sequences. While we will examine classic examples of hunter-gatherer groups, early villages, urban settlements, regional polities, and large empires through time, we will also stress the contemporaneity of groups of people with very different lifestyles -- hunter-gatherers participated in trading networks with town and city dwellers, pastoral nomads moved through settled village regions during their annual migrations. The impact of archaeological research on the region today is seen through the politicization of South Asian prehistory and history that has strongly affected both interpretations of the past and modern political events. Cases such as the debate over the identity of the Harappans and the existence of the Aryans will be evaluated from both an archaeological and a political perspective.
ANT317H5: Archaeology of Indigenous Eastern North America
This course is a survey from an archaeological perspective of Indigenous history in Ontario and the Eastern Woodlands of North America from earliest times until colonization. Themes examined will include technology, subsistence, shelter, landscape use, art, and trade and how these vary in time and space.
ANT318H5: Archaeological Fieldwork
Introduction to archaeological field methods. Practical component of the field school takes place on the UTM campus during the last two weeks of August (Monday-Friday 9:00 am – 5:00 pm). Morning lectures (week one) covering note taking, map making, cultural landscapes, material culture identification and survey and excavation methods, are followed by afternoons in the field applying skills taught that morning. Week two is spent excavating at an archaeological site. During weekly laboratory sessions September – December students learn to process, identify, and catalogue artifacts recovered during the field component. Limited Enrolment and Application Process: see Anthropology department website for more details.
ANT320H5: Archaeological Approaches to Technology
Using hands-on learning as a primary approach, this course focuses on insights into social and cultural processes provided by the study of ancient and historic technology. Experimental, ethnographic, archaeological, and textual data are used to examine topics such as organization and control of production, style of technology, and the value of objects. Throughout, we will discuss social and cultural as well as economic and functional reasons for the development and adoption of new technologies.
ANT322H5: Anthropology of Youth
This course will present various perspectives on the nature and dynamics of youth culture. The course will examine one or more of the following: capitalism and youth cultures, ethnomusicology, and discourses of "youth." Topics may include North American subcultures (such as punk and hip-hop) and/or ethnographies of youth from other parts of the world. The course may also use frameworks from cultural studies and semiotics.
ANT327H5: Agricultural Origins: The Second Revolution
A second revolution in human existence began when people developed agriculture long after the origin of modern humans and Upper Palaeolithic culture. This course critically evaluates the shift to agriculture in the context of current ecological and archaeological perspectives. The concept of "agriculture" is evaluated by considering plant and animal domestication as well as resource management in a broad range of contexts.
ANT331H5: The Biology of Human Sexuality
Human sexual behaviours will be examined through the lens of evolutionary theory. Through lectures and readings, students will examine such topics as genetic, hormonal, and environmental determinants of sex, sexual selection, and the influence of sex on life history and behaviour. Students will discuss research that has been published in this area, and will develop critical assessments of the literature and films.
ANT332H5: Human Origins I: Early Ancestors to Homo
What does it mean to be human? Paleoanthropologists address this question by using fossil evidence to piece together our evolutionary history. Who we are today is a product of our biological and geological past. We will begin this quest by looking at ourselves as primates, and then we will traverse back through time to study primate origins, evolution, adaptations, and behaviour until we reach our genus, Homo.
ANT333H5: Human Origins II: The genus Homo
What does it mean to be human? This course will examine the evolutionary journey through the genus Homo by examining the fossil evidence and the archeological record. Through this examination we will discover the unique biological and behavioural characteristics of modern humans.
ANT334H5: Human Osteology
In this course students are given hands-on experience in the identification of the normal anatomy of the adult human skeleton with accompanying muscle function. Metrical variation, growth and development, bone histology, and methods of individual identification are introduced.
ANT335H5: Anthropology of Gender
Gender concerns the ways that groups define and experience what it is to be male, female, or a gender identity in-between or outside of that binary, and in all societies the boundaries of gender categories are both policed and resisted. In this course we examine how gender is made materially, discursively, and through intersections with other structures of inequality (e.g. race, sexuality, class, etc.).
ANT337H5: Anthropology of Growth and Development
This course examines the fundamental biological principles of growth and how these are expressed throughout evolution. It explores the evolution of growth patterns among primates and hominins and compares patterns of growth among the living primates. The course examines human growth and development throughout infancy, childhood, and adolescence and explores the influence of genetic, epigenetic, and endocrine processes on the plasticity of human growth that ultimately produces the variability observed in our species. The goal of the course is to provide students with a complex understanding of how evolutionary and environmental processes interact in the production of growth and health in human populations.
ANT338H5: Laboratory Methods in Biological Anthropology
This lab methods course focuses on laboratory techniques used by biological anthropologists to assess growth, health, and risk of chronic disease in human populations. In this course students will gain practical, hands-on experience in nutrition assessment, anthropometry, physical activity and sleep assessment, and human energy expenditure. State-of-the-art instruments and software are employed, ensuring students gain valuable knowledge of data management and analysis using applications suitable in both clinical and research settings.
ANT340H5: Osteological Theory and Methods
This course instructs students in the osteological methods used to interpret the life course of past populations, and the theory underlying these analyses. We will explore how skeletal analyses are employed to interpret group identity and behaviour using a biocultural approach and will address ethical issues pertaining to human remains, including the goals of descendant populations. The theoretical underpinnings of osteobiographical analyses, biological distance studies, paleopathology, and paleodemography will be outlined. Students will observe human morphological skeletal variation as a result of taphonomic processes, sex, age, pathological conditions, and non-metric variance.
ANT341H5: Anthropology of Infectious Disease
Infection is situated at the intersection of social and biological experience. This course examines why infectious disease occupies such a central position in our contemporary understanding of health. It examines the many theoretical and methodological approaches currently used to understand how humans experience infectious illness. Perspectives from bioarchaeology, demography, environmental anthropology, medical history, biocultural anthropology, and medical anthropology are used to examine the way epidemics and infections have been understood throughout human history and how those understandings continue to shape human perceptions of risk, the body and identity. Social inequality is a major focus of inquiry; the course explores how colonialism, globalization and injustice lead to significant and persistent health inequalities for many populations.
ANT350H5: Globalization and the Changing World of Work
The course uses ethnographic material to examine ways in which global forces have changed the nature of work in different sites since World War Two -- North America, Europe, and the countries of the South are selectively included.
ANT351H5: Money, Markets, Gifts: Topics in Economic Anthropology
Sociocultural anthropology has, since its inception, questioned the assumption that "the economy" ought to be understood as a domain distinguishable from other fields of human interaction, such as religion and kinship, or from power, politics, affect, and morality. This class offers a set of introductory readings that range from the analysis of non-Western forms of exchange and value to the study of capitalism; from stock-markets to the anti-globalization movement.
ANT352H5: Protest, Power and Authority: Topics in Political Anthropology
This course explores ethnographically the social and cultural practices through which the exercise of power is legitimized, authorized, and contested, examining such topics as nation-building, non-governmental activism, human rights, and the global "war on terror."
ANT353H5: Queer Bodies: Gender, Disability, and Illness
This course explores key concepts in medical anthropology, disability studies, and gender and queer studies by examining how gender and sexuality matter in the contexts of illness and disability across a range of institutional, social, and national contexts. Students will learn to think critically about the body as a site of power configured in the social and material fields of heath/illness, dis/ability, race, and gender and sexuality.
ANT354H5: Capitalism and its Rebels
This class explores different forms of rebellion, insurgency, protest and political mobilization from an anthropological perspective, focusing specifically on anti-capitalist mobilizations. Ethnographies of contemporary social movements offer us a window onto the inner workings of capitalism, and glimpses of alternative ways of life. This course looks to the overlap between capitalist processes, racism, and colonialism, and invites us to learn from people fighting for collective autonomy.
ANT355H5: Disabled Cyborgs and Racist Robots: Bodies, Technologies, and Social Justice
How does technology mediate our ideas about the social differences of disability, race, and gender? By rethinking the role of technology in reproducing social disparities and challenging bioethical debates about enhancement, students will emerge with the tools to reimagine the relationship between technology, the human body, and social justice.
ANT356H5: War, Peace, and Revolution in the Middle East: Anthropological Perspectives on Political Conflicts
This course will explore political violence and social change in the modern Middle East. What forms of loyalty, authority or rivalry have accompanied political violence? What economic activities and relations have been shaped by political conflict and peace in the region? What are the historical origins of nation-states, political regimes, and social movements in the region? By taking a historical and anthropological look at political conflict and change, this course will examine the transformations of the region in the last two centuries.
ANT357H5: Nature, People and Power: Topics in Environmental Anthropology
This course examines anthropological approaches to the environment and environmentalism. Through key readings on indigenous peoples and conservation, traditional ecological knowledge, community-based natural resource management, ecotourism and the human dimensions of climate change, the course explores the complex social, cultural and political encounters that produce 'the environment' as a resource in need of management.
ANT358H5: Field Methods in Sociocultural Anthropology
This course investigates how sociocultural and/or linguistic anthropologists collect data, conduct fieldwork, and interpret research results. The course will benefit students who want to gain an appreciation of research design and practice and those considering graduate-level work in anthropology or another social science.
ANT359H5: Sovereignty Matters: Indigenous North America in the 21st Century
Across North America, Indigenous peoples are actively (re)building their nations. This course explores a range of legal and political concerns – e.g., treaties, sovereignty, self-determination, nationhood, citizenship – central to these nation-building projects. It will also explore the wider agonistic field within which these projects unfold. Individuals and groups across North America pretending to be Indigenous; national and international borders; technologies of race; myths of the “Vanishing Indian” – all frustrate Indigenous peoples’ nation-building efforts, including the very recognition of Indigenous nations as political entities. Through close readings of anthropological and related materials, as well as current case studies from across Canada and the US, students will gain insights into some of today’s most pressing concerns for the Indigenous peoples of this continent.
ANT362H5: Language in Culture and Society
The course aims to introduce students to theoretical questions and contemporary research in linguistic anthropology. Topics include language ideologies, language and media, language and embodiment, as well as core theories in linguistic anthropology.
ANT363H5: Magic and Science
What's the difference between magic and science? Is there one? This course explores anthropological approaches to magic and science and related topics, raising basic questions about the nature of knowledge: what can we know about the world, and how can we know it? Through close readings of key anthropological texts, we consider what--if anything--differentiates magic and science, belief and truth, subjectivity and objectivity, irrationality and rationality.
ANT364H5: Fieldwork in Language, Culture, and Society
This course will give students hands-on experience in methods for recording, transcribing, coding, and analyzing ethnographic data in linguistic anthropology. Students will synthesize weekly reading materials focused on these methods with actual, collaborative, in-class practice on a designated topic in the anthropology of everyday social interaction. Through this synthesis students will come to discern the relationship between everyday instances of communication between people and what the patterns of speech in this interaction may say about larger society. Students will be expected to develop their own analyses of the data collected under the guidance of the instructor and to formulate a final project.
ANT365H5: Meaning, Self, Society
Humans, to paraphrase Clifford Geertz, are suspended in webs of meaning that they themselves have spun. This course introduces students to the tools anthropologists and others have developed in order to analyze and understand these "webs of meaning." Readings in philosophy, cultural theory and ethnography will be used to engage with questions regarding the construction of meaning in relation to ethnic identity, social structure, gender, political economy, personhood, and religion. Drawing on classic texts and the tools of semiotics, students will learn to apply the lens of symbolic analysis to interpret a range of contemporary social phenomena.
ANT366H5: Anthropology of Law
The course explores anthropological approaches to the study of law, social orders, political and normative authorities, frames of rights, regimes of crime and punishment, and forms of justice-seeking. Accounting for different understandings of law and everyday legal practices, the course readings include canonical texts of legal anthropology as well as recent ethnographies of law. The course outlines the key concepts, issues, and methods of legal anthropology as a specific field of study in relation to the larger history of the discipline.
ANT367H5: Sister Species: Lessons from the chimpanzee
Chimpanzees are our closest living relatives. In this course we will examine chimpanzee behavior, ecology, morphology, physiology, language, intelligence, and genetics. Through lectures, labs, films and writing assignments we will get an intimate look at every aspect of chimpanzee biology and behavior. Among questions asked will be: Why do animals use or not use tools? Why are animals aggressive? How does physiology influence what chimpanzees can eat and what's healthy to eat? Can chimpanzees use language? Do chimpanzees use medicine? Just how different are chimpanzee bones, muscles, and brains from our own? Throughout the class we will turn to use chimpanzees as a model to better understand ourselves and our place in nature.
ANT368H5: Ecological Worldviews: A Cultural Approach
A study of the scope and seriousness of present ecological concerns, as well as some core principles and concepts in the intersection of environment and culture, through the lens of selected secular and religious worldviews. In some years, students may additionally have the option of participating in an international learning experience during Reading Week that will have an additional cost and application process.
ANT369H5: Religious Violence and Nonviolence
Religious violence and nonviolence as they emerge in the tension between strict adherence to tradition and individual actions of charismatic figures. The place of violence and nonviolence in selected faith traditions.
ANT370H5: Environment, Culture and Film
Our present environmental challenge constitutes of the most pressing areas of contemporary social, cultural, ethical and ecological concern. Acid rain, poisoned air, forest clear-cutting, ozone depletion, global climate change, toxic waste sites--the list goes on--all weigh heavily on our personal and intellectual lives. This course attempts to introduce students to both the scope and seriousness of present ecological concerns, as well as some core principles and concepts in the field of the intersection of environment and culture, through the lens of feature films. Themes such as the precautionary principle, urban/rural dualisms, ecofeminism, deep ecology, and the overwhelming burden placed on poor populations by environmental destruction are but a few of the areas which will be examined through the use of feature films, both classic and contemporary. We will do this in part by touching on some of the major writers and classic essays in the field, Class lectures will be supplemented by audiovisuals, guest lectures and class discussions.
ANT371H5: The Natural City: Cultural Approaches to Urban Sustainability
Since 2007, for the first time in human history, more than half the world’s peoples live in cities. It is estimated that by 2030 over 60% will be urban dwellers. This demographic shift suggests that for many (if not most) people, their primary encounter with “nature” will be urban-based. This course explores "the city" through a multispecies lens and challenges assumptions about the human-centeredness (anthropocentrism) of urban places. In this course students are invited to utilize a variety of approaches, including arts-based ethnography, journaling, archival research, photography, sound-scaping, et al., as we explore the following questions: How do ideas about nature-culture shape our interactions with nonhumans in cities? How do built environments structure human-nonhuman relationships in urban spaces? How have human-nonhuman interactions changed over time in cities? How can we foster more compassionate and caring relationships with nonhumans in cities - and how might we do this in the context of social-ecological injustices and climate change? What might a thriving multispecies city of the future look like?
ANT380H5: Special Topics in Biological Anthropology and Archaeology
Special course on selected topics in biological anthropology and/or archaeology; focus of topic changes each year. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
ANT381H5: Special Topics in Sociocultural and Linguistic Anthropology
Special course on selected topics in sociocultural and/or linguistic anthropology; focus of topic changes each year. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
ANT397H5: Independent Study
This independent study course is designed to offer students advanced supervised reading and initial research planning on an anthropological topic not covered in other courses, or covered only briefly. Students who wish to pursue this option with a specific faculty member should approach the faculty member early - before the start of the academic term - to negotiate the reading and study program.
ANT397Y5: Independent Study
This independent study course is designed to offer students advanced supervised reading and initial research planning on an anthropological topic not covered in other courses, or covered only briefly. Students who wish to pursue this option with a specific faculty member should approach the faculty member early - before the start of the academic term - to negotiate the reading and study program.
ANT398H5: Independent Reading
This independent reading course is designed to offer students advanced supervised reading on an anthropological topic not covered in other courses, or covered only briefly. Students who wish to pursue this option with a specific faculty member should approach the faculty member early - before the start of the academic term - to negotiate the reading program.
ANT398Y5: Independent Reading
This independent reading course is designed to offer students advanced supervised reading on an anthropological topic not covered in other courses, or covered only briefly. Students who wish to pursue this option with a specific faculty member should approach the faculty member early - before the start of the academic term - to negotiate the reading program.
ANT399H5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides senior undergraduate students who have developed some knowledge of a discipline and its research methods an opportunity to work in the research project of a professor in return for course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, develop their research skills and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Based on the nature of the project, projects may satisfy the Sciences or Social Sciences distribution requirement. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
ANT399Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides senior undergraduate students who have developed some knowledge of a discipline and its research methods an opportunity to work in the research project of a professor in return for course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, develop their research skills and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Based on the nature of the project, projects may satisfy the Sciences or Social Sciences distribution requirement. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
ANT402H5: Wild Nights: Sleep, evolution, and performance in the 21st century
Sleep is essential to cognitive function and health in humans, yet the ultimate reasons for sleep - that is, 'why' we sleep - remains mysterious. This course integrates research findings from human sleep studies, the ethnographic record, and the ecology and evolution of mammalian and primate sleep to better understand sleep along the human lineage and in the modern world. Students will learn how to use 'wearable' technology, such as actigraphy, for scientific research. The goal of the course is to empower students with the theoretical and technological tools to be able to not only critically assess their own sleep-wake behaviour and performance but also popular generalizations about how to maximize long-term health outcomes.
ANT403H5: Social Learning and Cultural Patterns
Social learning is fundamental to human experience, through which individuals, societies, and generations share information and practices, and form cultural patterns and norms. Learning how to do something is also learning how to be a member of a society. Understanding social learning enables us to make the connections between the population-level, intergenerational cultural phenomena and the measurable individual-level process. This course uses case studies from anthropology, psychology, and biology to discuss the social, psychological, and biological foundations of social learning and the roles of social learning in enabling the accumulation of knowledge in human societies and shaping cultural patterns.
ANT404H5: Current Topics in Palaeoanthropology
This course will introduce students to cutting-edge developments in the palaeoanthropological field. The weekly seminars will be strongly research-based, incorporating the latest discoveries, publications and debates. This course will also involve an in-class practical component during which the extensive cast collection in the department will be utilized, together with new 3D methods for fossil visualization. The goal of this course is to: 1) reinforce key theoretical concepts traditionally applied in the field, and 2) provide students with knowledge of the more recent debates and methodological approaches currently pushing the boundaries of palaeoanthropology.
ANT405H5: Behind Bars: Anthropology of Institutions and Confinement
This course explores confinement, institutions, and incarceration from a broad anthropological perspective. Bioarchaeological, archaeological, and ethnographic research on institutions (e.g., asylums, poorhouses, prisons) will be critically examined. The goal of the course is to provide students with a complex understanding of institutionalization through time and how health vulnerabilities are created and recreated.
ANT407H5: Quantitative Methods in Archaeology and Biological Anthropology
This course will provide students with the basic analytic background necessary to evaluate quantitative data in biological anthropology and archaeology. Students will be introduced to foundational statistical concepts and research methods suitable for anthropological exploration. The focus will be on analysing univariate and bivariate data using both nonparametric and parametric statistical techniques, hypothesis testing, and methods of data collection. The goal of this course is for students to learn how to manipulate simple datasets, ask and answer theoretically relevant questions, and choose the appropriate statistical test for a given research problem. Students will receive hands-on training during lab components and will learn how to analyse data using relevant statistical software. Students will have access to a number of biological anthropology and archaeology datasets for class assignments. No prior knowledge of statistics and mathematics is required.
ANT410H5: Seminar on the History of Archaeological Theory
This seminar course examines major schools of archaeological thought over time. Class members will explore theoretical approaches to archeological explanations of the human past. We will discuss how these models affect and are affected by archaeologists' investigation of research questions and interpretation of archaeological evidence. Readings include historically important key works as well as recent syntheses.
ANT414H5: People and Plants in Prehistory
The relationship between plants and people through time offers important insights into our past, particularly human-environmental interaction, plant domestication, and agricultural origins and development. Students will learn archaeological plant remains identification and interpretation skills through a combination of laboratory and seminar sessions. In some years, students may additionally have the option of participating in an international learning experience during Reading Week that will have an additional cost and application process. Skills learned in this course are also useful in forensic investigations. Students will develop a project based on archaeological material from Japan and/or Ontario in consultation with the instructor.
ANT415H5: Faunal Archaeo-Osteology
Examination and interpretation of faunal material from archaeological sites, to obtain cultural information regarding the site occupants.
ANT416H5: Advanced Archaeological Analysis
This course will involve students in applied laboratory methods in archaeology. Each student will engage in an individual research project on an archaeological data set. Techniques will include basic description, measurement, quantitative analysis and qualitative analysis. The primary focus will be ceramic and lithic analysis.
ANT418H5: Advanced Archaeological Fieldwork
Practical experience for students who completed ANT318H5 and are ready for more advanced field experiences. During practical component (last two weeks of August, Monday-Friday 9:00 am – 5:00 pm) students have responsibility for recording/documenting an archaeological site in the field, including survey and detailed mapping. Students also act as mentors to ANT318 students during pedestrian and subsurface survey, and excavation. During weekly laboratory sessions September – December students process, identify, and catalogue artifacts, and learn to write an archaeological report and site record form. Limited Enrolment and Application Process: see Anthropology department website for more details.
ANT430H5: Special Problems in Biological Anthropology and Archaeology
Special seminar on selected topics in biological anthropology and/or archaeology; focus of seminar changes each year.
ANT431H5: Special Problems in Sociocultural and Linguistic Anthropology
Special seminar on selected topics in sociocultural and/or linguistic anthropology; focus of seminar changes each year.
ANT432H5: Advanced Seminar in Biological Anthropology and Archaeology
Special seminar on selected topics in any scientific aspect of anthropology, including one or more sub-fields; focus of seminar changes each year. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
ANT433H5: Advanced Seminar in Sociocultural and Linguistic Anthropology
Special seminar on selected topics in any social science aspect of anthropology, including one or more sub-fields; focus of seminar changes each year. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
ANT434H5: Palaeopathology
The study of diseases and maladies of ancient populations. The course will survey the range of pathology on human skeletons, (trauma, infection, syphilis, tuberculosis, leprosy, anemia, metabolic disturbances, arthritis and tumors).
ANT436H5: Theory and Methods in Molecular Anthropology
Survey of theory and methods in molecular anthropology, a subdiscipline of anthropology that attempts to understand human evolution and the variation observed in our species using molecular information.
ANT437H5: Advanced Seminar in the Anthropology of Health
This course is the culmination of the undergraduate Anthropology of Health focus and aims to prepare students for workplace application and graduate study in a wide range of clinical and research domains. The course brings together diverse branches of biological investigation (human biology, nutrition, growth and development, chronic and communicable disease) and undertakes a critical examination of theory and methods used in the study of human health. It traces the historical development of the powerful biomedical paradigm that dominates health research today and uses a critical lens to examine the systems used to measure and classify health and disease. It explores evolutionary and biological approaches to understanding human health by examining the concepts of adaptation and plasticity, genetic and epigenetic approaches, developmental origins and life history theories, social determinants of health, and critical medical anthropology. The course explores the profoundly influential role of social inequality on the production and reproduction of health in historical and contemporary populations.
ANT438H5: Rethinking Anthropology from a Community Perspective
This senior seminar course engages students in a thoughtful dialogue and critique of traditional methodologies and theories in the subfields of biological anthropology and archaeology. The goal of this course is to give students a chance to reflect on the future of this discipline through a discourse with anthropologists and community members who have been involved and affected by anthropological studies. Topics will cover Cultural Resource Management and Rematriation in Canada, Gender Diversity and Ethnic Identification in Forensic Anthropology, Ethics of Museums, and the colonial foundations of Evolutionary Anthropology, and Primatology.
ANT439H5: Advanced Forensic Anthropology
Forensic anthropologists are responsible for the search, recovery, and analysis of human skeletal remains in modern contexts. This course will explore the knowledge and skills used by forensic anthropologists to reconstruct the biological profile of the deceased, make an identification, contribute to the determination of manner and mode of death, understand the events that took place at the scene, and to provide an estimate of time since death.
ANT441H5: Advanced Bioarchaeology
This course will combine theory learned in ANT340H5, Osteological Theory and Methods, with bioarchaeological methods to teach students how to conduct and interpret an osteobiography of human skeletal remains. Lectures and labs will cover techniques of sex determination, age estimation, stature calculation, evaluating health and nutrition, assessing markers of occupational stress, osteometrics, biological distance studies, and paleodemography.
ANT450H5: Apocalypse: Anthropologies of Hope, Fear, and Survival
Is this the end of the world? In a culture overwhelmed with fantastical stories of apocalypse, how are we to actually prepare for catastrophe? This course asks us to consider social and political life at the end of the world, to interrogate visions of an apocalyptic future, and to re-orient ourselves toward forms of collective survival.
ANT455H5: Toxicity and Environmental Injustice
The presence of toxic chemicals is a defining feature of contemporary life. But while toxicity is everywhere, it is not everywhere the same. Considering toxicity through medical and environmental anthropology, science and technology studies, and environmental justice, we will gain new perspectives on the politics of evidence, the nature of health, and the nature of nature. Creative, hands-on assignments will help us understand the toxic worlds around us at UTM.
ANT460H5: Theory in Sociocultural Anthropology
Survey of major theoretical perspectives developed in social and cultural anthropology. The main ideas and underlying assumptions of each perspective will be critiqued and evaluated for their contributions to the field.
ANT462H5: Living and Dying: Topics in Medical Anthropology and Global Health
This course is concerned with contemporary medical knowledge practices, with particular emphasis on Western medicine and Public Health. Through a set of key readings in sociocultural medical anthropology, students will explore topics such as the art and science of medicine, end of life rites and rituals, expertise, and the politics and perils of intervention. This is an advanced, writing -intensive seminar that will particularly appeal to sociocultural anthropology students, and those interested in pursuing a career in the health professions.
ANT463H5: Anthropologies of Water: On Meaning, Value, and Futures
This class delves into the topic of water from an anthropological perspective by thinking of water not only as resource but also as meaningful substance, symbol, and mediator of human and non-human relations. Class will consist mainly of discussions of ethnographic readings but also of hands-on class exercises, field-trips, and auto-ethnographic work. In some years, students may additionally have the option of participating in an international learning experience during Reading Week that will have an additional cost and application process.
ANT465H5: The Anthropology of Islam
This course offers an upper-level overview of anthropological research on Islam and cultures of the Muslim world. In this seminar-style class, we will critically examine how anthropologists have approached the study of Islam and Muslim communities and whether there is something we can call the “anthropology of Islam.” We will approach these questions through the critical reading of challenging theoretical texts from the mid-20th to 21st century, but also by examining various manifestations of the Islamic tradition and the diversity and complexity of Muslim cultures around the world, including in sub- Saharan Africa, the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe.
ANT467H5: Are Media Turning Humans into Cyborgs?
The contemporary world is profoundly shaped by mass media. We might even ask if media technologies have changed what it means to be human. Democratic politics, globalized economic flows, and new religious practices all depend on modern technologies of communication, as does the discipline of anthropology. How might we make sense of how social media, television, radio, and film have shaped our lives from an ethnographic perspective? In this course, we will pursue this question through a series of studies of media use, production, and circulation in a wide range of cultural contexts, including the exploring centrality of media to the production of anthropological knowledge. Developing some of the themes that students might have been exposed to in ANT102H5 (Introduction to Sociocultural and Linguistic Anthropology) and ANT204H5 (Sociocultural Anthropology), students will also be guided in pursuing their own research interests in this upper-level seminar.
ANT468H5: Anthropology of Troubled Times
Rising sea levels, unnatural disasters, global displacements, energy shortages, poverty, racism, mediated mass-surveillance, conspiracies, populism, pandemics – all provide unsettling markers of our times. As chroniclers and theorists of the contemporary, anthropologists have been keen to diagnose and engage the moment. Their efforts have yielded dividends: key insights into some of today’s most pressing problems, as well as new analytic tools with which to capture them. This fourth-year seminar will enable students to survey a range of pressing contemporary concerns and to explore some of the ways anthropologists and cognate scholars are engaging with them. Because anthropology is part of the world it seeks to understand, the seminar will also consider anthropology’s own grounds of knowledge, dwelling on some of the epistemological, ethical and political conundrums the discipline’s real-world entanglements entail. This concern takes us beyond “troubled times,” inviting reflection on that curious Western project we call “anthropology.”
ANT497H5: Advanced Independent Study
This independent study course is designed to offer students advanced supervised reading, research and planning for a publishable report on an anthropological topic not covered in other courses, or covered only briefly. Students who wish to pursue this option with a specific faculty member should approach the faculty member early - before the start of the academic term - to negotiate the research and study program.
ANT497Y5: Advanced Independent Study
This independent study course is designed to offer students advanced supervised reading, research and planning for a publishable report on an anthropological topic not covered in other courses, or covered only briefly. Students who wish to pursue this option with a specific faculty member should approach the faculty member early - before the start of the academic term - to negotiate the research and study program.
ANT498H5: Advanced Independent Reading
This independent reading course is designed to offer students advanced supervised reading on an anthropological topic not covered in other courses, or covered only briefly. Students who wish to pursue this option with a specific faculty member should approach the faculty member early - before the start of the academic term - to negotiate the reading program.
ANT498Y5: Advanced Independent Reading
This independent reading course is designed to offer students advanced supervised reading on an anthropological topic not covered in other courses, or covered only briefly. Students who wish to pursue this option with a specific faculty member should approach the faculty member early - before the start of the academic term - to negotiate the reading program.
ANT499H5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides senior undergraduate students who have developed some knowledge of a discipline and its research methods an opportunity to work in the research project of a professor in return for course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, develop their research skills and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Based on the nature of the project, projects may satisfy the Sciences or Social Sciences distribution requirement. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
ANT499Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides senior undergraduate students who have developed some knowledge of a discipline and its research methods an opportunity to work in the research project of a professor in return for course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, develop their research skills and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Based on the nature of the project, projects may satisfy the Sciences or Social Sciences distribution requirement. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
ARA210H5: Arab Culture I
This course introduces the Arab culture in general terms and familiarizes students with some fundamental realities of the Arab world (e.g. family, gender roles, social etiquette, etc.) with a general introduction to values and religious practices. The course is taught in English.
ARA212Y5: Introductory Arabic
This introductory course is designed for beginners, i.e., students with NO prior knowledge of the Arabic language. The course provides a basic proficiency in Modern Standard Arabic. The students will have ample practice of reading and writing the Arabic alphabet and will master the Arabic sounds and their phono-syntactic features. A foundation of grammar will familiarize the students with word formation, word order, and sentence structures. By the end of the course, the students should be able to fully read Arabic, comprehend simple reading, produce complete sentences to express basic information orally and in writing, and to conduct basic conversations in Modern Standard Arabic. All students are REQUIRED to complete the Arabic Language Assessment Questionnaire before enrolling in this course. Please visit https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/language-studies/language-course-assessment-questionnaires and complete the Arabic Language Assessment Questionnaire by no later than August 29th. Late assessment submissions will not be accepted.
ARA300Y5: Intermediate Arabic for Heritage Learners
This is an Arabic language course for heritage students, i.e. of Arab origins, who may have had passive exposure to Arabic but have never formally studied the reading and writing of Arabic. This course is also designed to help students with interest in Islamic studies who may have been exposed to elementary Qur’anic teaching but were never taught the alphabet, and who cannot communicate in spoken or written Arabic. In this course, students will begin by learning how to sound, read and write the Arabic alphabet. They will study Arabic grammar, develop reading comprehension, and practice writing skills that advance gradually throughout the course. Each unit of the course is fully supported by a range of comprehension, vocabulary-building, grammar reinforcement activities, and reading & writing exercises. Language analysis will be based on the reading of excerpts of authentic Arabic texts from contemporary literature, magazines and newspapers. By the end of this course, students will have completed the prerequisites to take Arabic reading, literature, and advanced language courses. Please visit https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/language-studies/language-course-assessment… and complete the Arabic Language Assessment Questionnaire by no later than August 29th. Late assessment submissions will not be accepted.
ARA305Y5: Introductory Egyptian Colloquial Arabic
This is an introductory course designed for high beginner level students, who desire to acquire fluency in spoken Egyptian Arabic, commonly known as Egyptian or Cairene Arabic. The course follows a teaching approach that places emphasis on the development of the listening and speaking skills of spoken Egyptian Arabic. This course develops communicative skills in Egyptian colloquial Arabic along parallel tracks of vocabulary and grammar. Therefore, student must be independently comfortable with the Arabic alphabet and must have developed elementary reading ability. The course is designed for students who have completed the beginner level of modern Standard Arabic ARA212Y5Y, and are now ready to branch out into their first experience of a major spoken dialect.
ARA312Y5: Intermediate Arabic
This course is for students who have basic background information in formal Arabic. To study this course, students should be able to write and speak simple sentences to express basic information in formal Arabic. The course builds on the skills that students have learned in ARA212Y5. By the end of this course, students should be able to use formal Arabic at an intermediate low level using ACTFL guidelines. Everyday language in the Egyptian and Levantine accents will be provided occasionally as supplementary materials for students' information only. However, students' skills will be assessed using formal Arabic only, which is the focus of this course.
ARA400Y5: Advanced Arabic for Heritage Learners
This course develops the student's communication skills in grammar, writing, reading, and formal registers of speaking, into an advanced level. It caters to the students who have completed the intermediate high level: ARA300, or whose language assessment reflects an intermediate level of proficiency of Arabic as a heritage language. The teaching of this course will also focus on error analysis to develop the student’s ability to distinguish between their version of heritage spoken language and that of the erudite Arabic, الفُصْحى, as used formally across the Arab world. By the end of the course, the student will be able to write in a formal academic register, sustain oral expressions and deliver oral presentations in formal Arabic.
ARA408H5: Arabs in Western Literature and Arts: Reception and Interpretation
(Offered in English).This survey course examines representative fiction and non-fiction texts, painting, films, operas, comics and video games to explore salient incidences of encounter, impact, and reception of the Arabs in medieval and modern Western thought. Examples of topics of analysis are Islamic imagery in Dante’s Inferno, motifs of storytelling and narrative structures from the One Thousand and One night in Boccaccio’s Decameron and Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales…From the Moors in Spain, to the Arabs in Sicily, from Shakespeare’s Othello to the Victorian Gothic Vathek, the course will move on to explore the extension of the French Orientalists’ influence beyond European painting to operas, and later in cinema, exploring works such as Il Seraglio, Lawrence Arabia, Casablanca and others. Current representations of the Arabs in Western films, TV shows, comics, and video games will be analyzed to trace continuity and discontinuity of the earlier reception. Students who take this course to be counted towards the Language Citation must complete written course work in Arabic.
ARA410H5: Advanced Arabic Reading I: Reading the Sacred and the Legendary
This is the first of two intensive advanced reading courses in the Arabic language. Throughout this course, the students will also be familiar with different sacred texts such as Tafsīr (Quranic exegesis) and Qiṣas al-Anbiyā’ (Tales of the Prophets) to the fables focused on the description of amazing and mythological creatures such as Qazvīni’s ‘Ajā’ib al-Makhlūqāt wa Gharā’ib alMawjūdāt (Marvels of Creatures and Strange things existing) and Kalīla wa Dimna as well as the epic of the legendary Arabic heroin Dhāt al-Himma in Sīrat Dhāt al-Himma.
ARA411H5: Advanced Arabic Reading II: Literary Journeys into the Past
This is the second of two intensive advanced reading courses in the Arabic language. This course will concentrate on works relating to history which includes universal histories in the world from creation up to their own eras; biographies of individuals and biographical dictionaries, advice literature that guide rulers to govern efficiently; poetry by poets and poetesses; maqãmãt or works of rhymed prose; mystical texts; travelogues that describe the adventures and observations of travelers to faraway lands; annalistic chronicles that record events from year to year; and chancery documents that shed light on the way medieval administrations worked.
ARA412Y5: Advanced Arabic
This course uses differentiated instruction and assessment methods to provide Arabic language instruction to two groups of students: 1) advanced learners of Arabic as a foreign language, and 2) heritage students who may have native or native-like proficiency in the Arabic language. Both groups of learners will have customized study materials and assessment schemes that provide for their specific learning needs and language abilities.
AST101H5: Exploring the Solar System
This course explores Earth's local family, consisting of two types of major planets, newly identified dwarf planets, many moons orbiting the planets, and millions of smaller objects such as comets and meteoroids. This course examines how these groups are similar and different, how the solar system formed, and how our solar system compares to the systems of other stars.
AST110H5: Night Sky Observing
This course gives a practical introduction to astronomical observations of the night sky, concentrating on objects that can be seen with the naked eye or with small telescopes. Students will learn to identify objects in the night sky, the properties and designs of small and large telescopes, and to plan and implement astrophotography and observing projects from their backyard.
AST115H5: Cultural Astronomy
This course will explore the historic and ongoing relationship between astronomy and human culture. In this course, students will approach astronomical concepts through the lens of archaeoastronomy – the exploration of astronomical practices in ancient cultures, and ethnoastronomy – the study of modern astronomical practices by cultures around the world. Topics will include cultural interpretations of the motions of the stars, planets, moon, and sun, methods of navigation and timekeeping, puzzles that have inspired important shifts in our understanding of the Universe, and varying cultural conceptions of what science is and how it is done.
AST201H5: Exploring the Universe
The Universe extends from the Sun to the most distant regions we can observe. This course explores our Sun, the other stars, the Milky Way galaxy in which our Sun lives, other galaxies that are far outside our Milky Way, and the most distant objects we can observe. In addition, the course presents evidence that everything we observe is just a small fraction of what exists in the Universe. The course content considers how the Universe began and evolved over time and the possibility of life beyond Earth.
AST221H5: Astrophysics I – Planets, Sun and Stars
This course explores the astrophysics of planets, Sun and stars, including their observed variety, structure, formation and evolution.
AST222H5: Astrophysics II – Stellar Systems, Galaxies and the Universe
This course explores the astrophysics of the Milky Way, other galaxies, and the Universe.
AST252H5: Life in the Universe
This course addresses the question of life beyond Earth. Starting with our current understanding of how life began and evolved on Earth, the course explores possibility that life might have developed elsewhere in the Universe. It summarizes the evidence that the conditions necessary for life might exist today or existed in the past on other planets in our solar system. This search for evidence of life is then extended to the thousands of planets that have been discovered orbiting other stars.
AST299Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This courses provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their second year to work in the research project of a professor in return for 299Y course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
AST320H5: Astrophysics III – Unsolved Problems in Astrophysics
This course explores the formation, equilibrium, and evolution of structure on various astronomical scales through the investigation of major open questions in modern astrophysics. Topics may include exoplanet formation and evolution, supermassive black holes, the progenitors of type Ia supernovae, galaxy evolution, and the nature of dark matter.
AST325H5: Observational Astronomy
This course will guide students to develop the core skills to collect, reduce, and interpret astronomical data. Through a series of projects and observing labs, students will develop their skillset for the usage of telescopes, instruments, and detectors; reduction and statistical analysis methods; simulations and model fitting; and data and error analysis.
AST399Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides third-year undergraduate students (after completing at least 9.0 credits) who have developed some knowledge of astronomical research with an opportunity to assist in a research project of a professor in return for course credit. Students enrolled in this course have the opportunity to enhance their research skills and share in the excitement of acquiring new knowledge and in the discovery process of science. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February, and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
BIO152H5: Introduction to Evolution and Evolutionary Genetics
The scientific method and the modern theory of evolution as an introduction to biology. The principles of evolution, transmission and evolutionary genetics are developed in lectures and laboratories.
BIO153H5: Diversity of Organisms
The consequences of Darwinian evolution: adaptations of organisms as a product of the main evolutionary mechanism - natural selection. The roles of natural selection and other mechanisms in the diversification of life are reviewed, along with the diversity of structures and life cycles in bacteria, protists, animals, plants and fungi.
BIO200H5: Introduction to Pharmacology: Pharmacokinetic Principles
Topics include absorption, distribution, biotransformation, elimination, calculation of dosages, variability in drug response and adverse drug reactions.
BIO201H5: The Biology Behind the News
News stories are used to explore areas of biology, to learn about the process of science, and to find and assess the validity of information. The topics for the course modules will change yearly because the course is designed to give students the tools to explore the biology behind the news, not to teach a comprehensive survey of biological facts. Reading, writing, and research skills are emphasized. This is a biology course for students in the Humanities and Social Sciences as well as other non-Biology Sciences.
BIO202H5: Introductory Animal Physiology
Diversity of structure and function in animals at the tissue and organ system level. Focus is on morphology and processes that sustain life and maintain homeostasis, including water balance, gas exchange, acquisition and transport of oxygen and nutrients, temperature regulation, electrical and chemical signal transmission, sensory processing, and locomotion. Principles and mechanisms of animal form and function are developed in lectures and laboratories.
BIO203H5: Introductory Plant Morphology and Physiology
Introduction to the morphology and physiology of plants. Students will learn that plants require energy to support metabolism and growth, and that these processes are highly regulated in order to achieve homeostasis. Topics covered include: biology of the plant cell, plant morphology, plant respiration and photosynthesis, transport processes, regulation of growth and development, and plant ecophysiology. Principles and mechanisms of plant form and function are developed in lectures and laboratories.
BIO205H5: Ecology
An introduction to the scientific study of ecology, emphasizing the structure and dynamics of populations, communities and ecosystems. Topics include population growth and regulation, competition, predation, biodiversity, succession, and nutrient cycling. Classic models and studies will be supplemented with both plant and animal examples.
BIO206H5: Introductory Cell and Molecular Biology
An introduction to the molecular biology of the cell with an emphasis on similarities and differences between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. Topics include the structure and function of: macromolecules, membranes, ribosomes, nuclei, intracellular organelles, etc. Other topics include: the central dogma of molecular biology (replication, transcription and translation), protein targeting, organization of the genome, gene regulation and regulation of the cell cycle. Tutorials will emphasize and consolidate concepts from lecture and text through individual and group assignments.
BIO207H5: Introductory Genetics
The principles of Mendelian inheritance and modern genetics are illustrated using examples from medical research, evolutionary biology, agriculture and conservation biology. Topics covered include: chromosome theory of inheritance, basic eukaryotic chromosome mapping, gene and chromosome mutation, the lac system, the extranuclear genome, population and quantitative genetics. In tutorials, students will work through problem sets related to lecture material as well as probability and statistical analysis.
BIO208H5: Biomechanics of Human Movement
The integration of the major organ systems involved in human biomechanics. A comparative approach is taken, placing the structure and function of the skeletal, muscular and nervous systems in an evolutionary context.
BIO209H5: Foundations of Human Physiology
The structure and function of the human body. Topics include integrating different organ systems, such as endocrine, cardiovascular, respiratory, and urogenital systems. An emphasis is placed on integration of structure and function of the major organ systems. As part of this course, students may have the option of participating in an international learning experience that will have an additional cost and application process.
BIO211H5: The History of Our Living Planet
This course provides a survey of major events in the evolution of life and Earth's geological history. It includes overviews of science as a process, geological principles, climate, and evolution. Special focus will be on major events including origin of life, the Cambrian explosion, plant and animal radiations onto land, the Mesozoic evolution of dinosaurs, and the Cenozoic diversification of mammals. This is a biology course for students in the Humanities and Social Sciences as well as other non-Biology Sciences.
BIO259H5: Introduction to Biological Data
This course introduces students to the exploration and analysis of biological data through computation. Students will learn to import biological datasets, parse and manipulate the data, and develop an intuition for basic statistical thinking through practical exercises and lectures.
BIO299H5: Research Opportunity Program
This program provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their second year to work in the research project of a professor in return for BIO299H5 (0.5) course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
BIO299Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This program provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their second year to work in the research project of a professor in return for BIO299Y5 (1.0) course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
BIO304H5: Molecular Physiology of Excitable Cells
The course will provide students with knowledge of the physiology of neurons, muscle and sensory systems by demonstrating the biophysical, ionic, and molecular bases of cellular excitability. Topics include the forces that govern ion movement through solution, the electrical properties of the cell membrane, the molecular properties of ion channels, and the molecular physiology of neuronal excitability, synaptic transmission, neuromodulation, and muscle contraction.
BIO310H5: Physiology of Regulatory Systems
Principles of cardiovascular, renal, respiratory and digestive physiology of animals and their control by the neural and endocrine systems.
BIO311H5: Landscape Ecology
Landscape ecology asks how spatial patterns originate and how they affect ecological processes like forest dynamics, nutrient cycling, species interactions, and the distribution and population dynamics of plants and animals. Lectures and computer labs introduce students to concepts and methods of landscape ecology and their application to current issues of land-use management and global change. The students will learn to apply GIS, spatial statistics, landscape metrics, and modelling to address problems in conservation, biodiversity, and ecosystem management.
Note: Students interested in this course will need to meet with the course instructor before being approved and permitted to enroll.
BIO312H5: Plant Physiology
This course focuses on the principal physiological processes in plants and the regulation of these processes in response to environmental factors with an emphasis on the relationship between structure and function from the molecular to the whole-plant level. The course will provide the basis to understand how plants sense and respond to changing environmental conditions. This will enable students to understand why rising atmospheric carbon dioxide and global climate warming impact photosynthesis, plant metabolism and ultimately whole plant and ecosystem performance. Concepts discussed during lectures will be demonstrated in a series of practical labs.
BIO313H5: Methods and Experimental Design in Ecology
This course will provide Biology Majors and Specialists particularly interested in ecology with integrated, practical exposure to field and laboratory research methods on plant, animal, and microbial communities including study design, data collection, statistical analysis, and interpretation of results.
BIO314H5: Laboratory in Cell and Molecular Biology
Students are introduced to commonly employed techniques in cell biology such as cellular fractionation, polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, western blotting, and immunolocalization. Students will also perform some advanced molecular biology techniques including the cloning and transformation of genes, DNA sequencing and the expression of proteins in bacterial and/or model systems. Each week, a two-hour lecture provides an introduction and theoretical basis for the lab.
BIO315H5: Human Cell Biology
This course uses the information learned in prerequisite courses to cover advanced details in specific areas. The course will also introduce students to many exciting new topics in the structure and function of normal and diseased cells. Areas of focus include cell adhesion, intercellular communication, signal transduction, the cytoskeleton, chemotaxis, motor proteins, receptor mediated endocytosis and intracellular trafficking with an eye towards understanding their underlying roles in the disease process. Throughout the course, students will learn about the underlying approaches, methods and experimentation used by biomedical researchers including polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, western blotting, immunolocalization, pharmacological intervention and various means of localizing proteins within cells.
BIO318Y5: Animal Behaviour
This course will cover the adaptive (evolved) behaviours of organisms that result from interactions with the biological environment. We ask why animals behave in a particular way, i.e. how does their behaviour enhance success in survival or reproduction? Examples involve adaptive strategies in competing with rivals, choosing mates, and avoiding parasites. We also ask how adaptive behaviour is controlled; what are the genetic, developmental, and physiological mechanisms underlying behaviour? Assignments involve observing and analyzing (suggesting alternative explanations/ hypotheses) for behaviour, followed by a use of these skills to critique a published scientific paper.
BIO320H5: Sensory and Cognitive Ecology
The acquisition and transduction of environmental information will be explored in the context of decision making and adaptive behaviour. This course will focus on the form and function of visual, auditory, tactile, and chemical senses and signals, and animal communication writ large. Post-acquisition, cognitive processes concerned with learning and memory will also be discussed. A comparative approach will be taken throughout to examine the ways that different animals and animal groups rely on different sources of information and a diverse variety of sensory and cognitive mechanisms. All topics will be covered in the context of species-specific ecology and evolution.
BIO324H5: Plant Biochemistry
This course examines plants as the biochemical motors and sustainers of life on earth. The major pathways of plant metabolism are surveyed to provide students with an integrated model of plant cells as autonomous biochemical networks. This course further emphasizes the specialized metabolism of economically significant plant species, the biosynthesis of pharmacologically and agriculturally important metabolites, and the role of biotechnology in engineering exotic plant metabolism in industrial settings.
BIO325H5: Biomechanics
From the form of an organism one can read its evolutionary history. This course addresses the use of organ systems to find and process food, escape enemies by locomotion, reproduce by pollination vectors, filter nutrients, exchange gases, coordinate and make decisions. Content includes the mechanics of moving in fluids by swimming and flying, sending and receiving of signals at body surfaces, the microstructure of materials. Forces are seen to have adaptively affected the shape and leverage of skeletons.
BIO326H5: Ornithology
Ecology, evolution, form, function, diversity, and conservation of birds. Practical sessions focus on observation and assessment of local avian populations using field ornithology techniques and approaches.
BIO328H5: Lectures in Animal Behaviour
This course will cover the adaptive (evolved) behaviours of organisms that result from interactions with the biological environment. We ask why animals behave in a particular way, i.e. how does their behaviour enhance success in survival or reproduction? Examples involve adaptive strategies in competing with rivals, choosing mates, and avoiding parasites. We also ask how adaptive behaviour is controlled; what are the genetic, developmental, and physiological mechanisms underlying behaviour? Assignments involve observing and analyzing (suggesting alternative explanations/ hypotheses) for behaviour, followed by a use of these skills to critique a published scientific paper. No laboratory or field work is included.
Note: This is a half-credit (0.5) course that is offered over the full academic year.
BIO329H5: Conservation Biology
Conservation of biodiversity, from genes to ecosystems. Topics include identifying biodiversity across levels of organization; understanding major threats to biodiversity (land use change, climate change, overharvesting); evaluating conservation actions (protected areas, reintroductions, assisted migration, restoration); and ethical considerations pertaining to conservation practices.
BIO330H5: Plant Ecology
A survey of the population and community ecology of plants. Topics include resource acquisition, growth and reproduction, mutualisms, competition, defence, invasions, disturbance, population dynamics, and community structure. Interactions with other plants, diseases, and animals particularly are emphasized.
BIO331H5: Ecology of Communities
This course will cover the theoretical foundations of community ecology, including the role of species interactions and environment structure on patterns of diversity and implications of community ecology in conservation. It will provide practical experience working with tools used to analyze community structure. Discussion and evaluation of the primary literature is a key component of this course. Students will also complete written assignments.
BIO332H5: Biology Field Research
A two-week Biology field research experience offered in one of the summer terms. The location, subject of the research, and instructor will change according to a regular cycle. Details will be made available on the Department of Biology website well in advance of a change to location. Please note that this course can only be completed once. There will be additional costs for travel and accommodation.
BIO333H5: Freshwater Ecology
A functional analysis of freshwater ecosystems, with emphasis on lakes. Lectures cover water chemistry; the physical structure of lakes; the different ways that algae, zooplankton, benthic invertebrates, and fish have evolved to succeed in these habitats and interact with one another; and the impact of humans on freshwater systems. Students must be available to participate in a 1-day field trip to visit aquatic habitats further from campus on a weekend in either late September or early October. Students not available for a 1-day weekend trip should not register for this course. Ancillary fees for the course apply. Please check the Departmental website for full details.
BIO335H5: Mycology
A study of the biology of fungi with emphasis on their life histories, morphology, classification, ecology and significance to man. Laboratory sessions include the collection, culture, and identification of a wide variety of fungi. In addition, several experiments illustrating important aspects of fungal physiology and development are performed in the laboratory.
BIO337Y5: Research Methods in Applied River Ecology
This course provides experiential learning in how to conduct ecological monitoring and research in river systems. It uses the Credit River as a living laboratory and students will have the opportunity to learn research skills including collecting field data, designing and analyzing research, and interpreting results. Lectures will discuss the biology of these systems and engage with community partners involved with the Credit River. Lectures will cover aspects of research, career development in riverine ecology, and include discussions with community partners. Students must be available to participate in a 5 all day field trips in fall term to visit the Credit River and collect data. Students not available for these Friday field trips should not register for this course. Ancillary fees for the course apply. Please check the Departmental website for full details.
BIO339H5: Plant Identification and Systematics
Lectures provide an introduction to principles and underlying philosophy of plant classification, phylogenetic reconstructions, flowering plant, evolution, phylogeny, pollination, breeding systems, and speciation in plants. Laboratories focus on gaining proficiency in recognizing important plant families by sight and identifying unknown plants by using keys and published Floras.
BIO341H5: Advanced Genetics
The following topics are covered at an advanced level: extensions to Mendelian genetics, linkage and advanced mapping analyses, mutation, extrachromosomal inheritance, quantitative genetics, population and evolutionary genetics and genetics of behaviour.
BIO342H5: Evolutionary Biology
An introduction to the concepts and importance of evolutionary biology. The course will focus on how genetic variation arises and is maintained, mechanisms of evolutionary change and how these mechanisms lead to adaptation, sexual selection, speciation and co-evolution. Throughout the course we will consider how fossils, experiments, genetics and molecular systematics can be used to understand evolution.
BIO347H5: Epigenetics
Epigenetic phenomena play key roles in environmental interactions, development, and in disease. Underlying molecular mechanisms that regulate chromatin structure and gene expression are explored, including DNA methylation, histone modifications, or non-coding RNAs. Examples focus predominantly on eukaryotes (e.g. plants, insects, humans) and highlight how epigenetic marks are set, maintained, and involved in shaping phenotypic outcomes. The course will also enable students to apply knowledge and basic principles to recent scientific literature in this dynamic field.
BIO353H5: Plant Development
The course addresses key concepts, with emphasis on unique plant-related aspects. Integrates plant development at the levels of the cell, tissue, organ and organism, with knowledge from diverse fields of Biology. Topics will include embryology, environmental interactions, signaling, developmental transitions, developmental diversity, evolution and development, and tools for discovery research.
BIO354H5: Vertebrate Form and Function
The design and adaptive consequences of vertebrate structure. Mechanisms of locomotion, digestion, gas exchange, circulation and sensory perception are compared at the organ level. Students conduct individual laboratory dissections on selected vertebrates.
BIO356H5: Major Features of Vertebrate Evolution
The evolution of the vertebrates as evidenced by the fossil record. The origin and adaptive radiation of major groups including amphibians and reptiles is emphasized. Principles and knowledge will be demonstrated through written assignments and essays.
BIO357H5: Invertebrate Biology and Evolution
This course explores the incredible invertebrate diversity on our planet. In doing so, it covers a variety of approaches, tools, and concepts in evolutionary biology of invertebrates. The course provides an overview of major phyla, including their phylogeny and the key innovations that define them. It explores the mechanisms underpinning invertebrate diversification, with a strong focus on comparative biology and contemporary genomic methods.
BIO360H5: Biometrics I
This course takes students from hypothesis testing to the application of testing means, chi-square tests, regression analysis and analysis of variance in Biology. Students will learn to choose an appropriate statistical test, independently analyze case studies with R software, and write empirical scientific reports.
BIO361H5: Biometrics II
This course is a sequel to BIO360H5 in which topics in biological statistics are explored at an advanced level. Multiple regression, concepts of power, multi-factor analysis of variance, advanced experimental designs, logistic regression, Monte Carlo techniques, generalized linear models and principal component analyses are explored using R software.
BIO362H5: Bioinformatics
Bioinformatics uses and develops computational tools to understand biological processes from the level of single molecules to whole genomes and organisms. The biotechnology revolution has meant that bioinformatics is now used in many cutting edge biological research areas from medicine to phylogenetics. This course will introduce core concepts, practices and research topics including DNA/Protein alignment, DNA sequence analysis, interacting with scientific databases, and genome sequencing technology. This course includes computer-based practicals wherein students will apply bioinformatic tools and be introduced to basic computer programming - no previous experience is required.
BIO368H5: Medicinal Plants and Human Health
This botanical survey of medicinal plants integrates phytochemistry, ethnobotany, herbalism, pharmacology, and the molecular basis of human disease. It examines traditional herbal medicine and modern phytochemical research as sources of plant-based drugs used in the treatment of disease. The biosynthesis of therapeutic plant compounds and their mechanisms of action in the human body are emphasized. Students will critically examine and debate claims made in the health, herbal, and supplement literature.
BIO370Y5: Microbiology
This course will include an in-depth exploration of microbial structure and ultrastructure; growth and cultivation; metabolism; microbial diversity and genetics; virology; pathogenicity and immunology; and the role of microorganisms in medicine and the environment. This lecture material will be accompanied by a weekly laboratory component where students learn about the latest experimental approaches in microbiology.
BIO371H5: Microbiology Lectures
In-depth discussion of bacterial structure and ultrastructure; physiology and nutrition; growth and cultivation; nature of viruses (bacteriophage and a limited survey of animal viruses and their properties); microbial genetics; immunology; the role of micro-organisms in medicine, industry, agriculture and ecology.
BIO372H5: Molecular Biology
This course provides an overview of the field of molecular biology, including DNA replication, DNA repair, homologous recombination, genome structure, chromatin regulation, transcription cycle, RNA splicing, translation, and genetic code. The course will enable students to learn the fundamental concepts of molecular biology and master critical thinking and problem-solving in the field of molecular biology.
BIO373H5: Environmental Microbiology
A lecture course on the interaction of microorganisms with other organisms and their environment. As the most abundant form of life, microorganisms have an enormous impact on the Earth. Subject areas include microbial evolution and biodiversity, metabolism and biogeochemical cycling, and how molecular biology has revolutionized our understanding of microbial life.
BIO374H5: Modern Biotechnology
This course is designed to introduce students to biotechnology and its applications in a variety of fields, including medicine, food & beverage, agriculture, forensics, fisheries and environmental protection. The course explores the principles and methods of genetic, tissue and organismal engineering involving species from bacteria to humans. The social and ethical issues associated with biotechnologies such as GMOs, stem cells and cloning will also be discussed. Topics include: Recombinant DNA Technology, Genomics & Bioinformatics, Protein Technology, Microbial Biotechnology, Plant Biotechnology, Animal Biotechnology, Forensic Biotechnology, Environmental Biotechnology, Aquatic Biotechnology, Medical Biotechnology, Biotechnology Regulations, and Careers in Biotechnology.
BIO375H5: Medical Biotechnology
This course explores a comprehensive array of discoveries in medical biotechnology, encompassing drugs, smartphone apps, generative artificial intelligence (including large language models and neural networks in general), data science, 3D printing and medical devices. It delves into a variety of biotechnology products, examining the regulatory pathways for experiments that support new biotechnologies, the fundamental scientific concepts underlying these technologies, patents, and their business context.
BIO376H5: Marine Ecology
This course addresses the diversity of marine life, and the physical, chemical, and biological processes occurring in marine ecosystems. Students will explore current methods and theories in marine ecology and consider the societal importance of marine resources with a special emphasis on Canada's coasts.
BIO377H5: Immunology
This course focuses on the human immune system and its relationship to health and disease. It uncovers the mechanisms behind defense against pathogens and etiology of autoimmune diseases, allergies, and immunodeficiencies. It provides a detailed description of innate and adaptive immune responses, immune cells and organs, antigen presentation, cell-mediated effector responses, tolerance and autoimmunity.
BIO378H5: The Biology of Marine Mammals: evolution, physiology, ecology and conservation
This course provides an introduction to the biological study of marine mammals and their populations. It explores the evolution of marine mammals, their adaptations to aquatic environments, as well as their population and behavioural ecology. The course also investigates threats to marine mammal populations and their national and global conservation.
BIO380H5: Human Development
Reproduction and embryonic development in humans are emphasized. After a general review of human reproduction, the formation of sperm and eggs is analyzed, followed by an in-depth analysis of fertilization in vivo and in vitro. Early embryonic developmental processes are studied with a view to how the embryo becomes organized so that all of the tissues and organs of the adult body form in the right places at the proper times. The course ends with an in-depth analysis of limb development and organ regeneration. The relevance of the material to such topics as human infertility, contraception, cloning, biotechnology and disease is continually addressed.
BIO399H5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides third year undergraduate students (after completion of at least 9.5 but not more than 14.0 credits), who have developed some knowledge of Biology and its research methods, another opportunity to work in the research project of a professor in return for course credit. Students enrolled have the opportunity to become involved in original research, enhance their research skills and share in the excitement of acquiring new knowledge and in the discovery process of science. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
BIO399Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides third year undergraduate students (after completion of at least 9.5 but not more than 14 credits), who have developed some knowledge of Biology and its research methods, another opportunity to work in the research project of a professor in return for course credit. Students enrolled have the opportunity to become involved in original research, enhance their research skills and share in the excitement of acquiring new knowledge and in the discovery process of science. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
BIO400Y5: Biology Internship
Through a part-time, unpaid, 200-hour work placement, fourth year students apply biology content and skills. Placements are made throughout the GTA in both the private (e.g. pharmaceutical or biotech companies) or public (e.g. Peel Region Medical Office, hospitals, Great Lakes Laboratory) sector. Biweekly class meetings plus year-end report and presentation are required. Students in a biology specialist program are given priority. Updated application information will be on-line at www.utm.utoronto.ca/intern by February 1st of each year. Please see the Internship Office (DV 3201D) for more information.
BIO403H5: Developmental Neurobiology
An advanced student-led course examining contemporary topics in neurobiology. Students will read, criticize, and present on current areas of neurobiology, which could include the cell and molecular basis for neural disease, developmental neurobiology, sensory reception, neurophysiology, neural communication, and information processing.
BIO404H5: Invertebrate Neurobiology
Neurobiology, the biological study of the nervous system, investigates the electrical and chemical processes animals use to regulate internal events and interface with their environments. Invertebrates have provided crucial neurobiological insights and are often more accessible study systems than vertebrates. This course addresses some key historical contributions, and discusses the future of invertebrate systems, where recent technological advances are opening up new ways to explore invertebrate neurobiology and evolution. Students will do practicals, using computer simulations of neurons, to develop an understanding of neurons and other excitable cells.
BIO405H5: Integrative Bat Biology
Bats (Chiroptera) are the most ecologically diverse order of mammals, second only to rodents in species number. Many are endangered, others are reservoirs for human disease. Bats provide various ecosystems services, from insect control to pollination and seed dispersal. This course will first focus on the otherwise rare combination of flight and echolocation in most bats. Specific species and families of bats will then be considered in a phylogenetically structured way to reveal aspects of their distinct biology, and strategies for their conservation and management.
BIO406H5: Current Topics in Ecology and Evolution
A combination of lectures and tutorials. The course will emphasize group discussion and critiques of current publications in the field. The theme of the course is expected to be topical and current and to vary from year to year, with the interests of the faculty member(s) teaching the course. Course themes are expected to range from structure and function of whole ecosystems (e.g. the collapse of fisheries) to evolutionary ecology (e.g. the evolution of emergent diseases).
BIO407H5: Behaviour Genetics
State of the art techniques used in the genetic, molecular, statistical and neurobiological analysis of behaviour are discussed. We focus on behaviour-genetic analysis of olfaction, foraging, rhythms and sex in three model systems (the worm C. elegans, the fruit fly D. melanogaster and the mouse). We discuss how information from these model organisms can be used to shed light on behaviour genetics of non-model organisms including humans.
BIO408H5: Neural Circuit Structure and Function
This course covers contemporary topics in systems neuroscience, focusing on the relationship between the circuit structure and function of mammalian brains. We review the current understanding of topics concerning signal transduction and the peripheral circuits, information processing in the central nerve system, neuronal cell types and connectivity, development and critical period plasticity of sensory cortices, and motor control. Students present and critique the latest research progress on these issues.
BIO409H5: Laboratory in Animal Physiology
Experiments are designed to familiarize students with techniques and experimental design commonly used in the study of physiology. A one-hour lecture each week provides an experimental and theoretical basis for each laboratory. Topics include pharmacology, enzyme kinetics, neurophysiology, respiration, and metabolic rate.
BIO410H5: Insect Physiology
A lecture course with a seminar component designed to introduce the student to the physiological characteristics of insects. The physiology of the integument, metamorphosis, reproduction, diapause and the physiological basis of insect control are discussed in detail.
BIO411H5: Topics in Molecular and Cellular Physiology
An advanced, student-led seminar course on contemporary subjects in cell physiology. Students will examine, review, criticize and present primary literature on fundamental topics such as ion transport, water transport, membrane excitability, intracellular transport, and secretion applied to a variety of physiological systems. Emphasis will be placed on understanding how diverse cell types carry out specific physiological functions.
BIO412H5: Climate Change Biology
Climate change is affecting life on earth at all levels from cells to ecosystems. As a result, shifts in the distribution of species, the timing of biological events, and large impacts on natural resources, agriculture, and forestry may be seen. This course explores past climate, predictions of future climate, impacts of climate change on biological systems, and potentials for adaptation. Mitigation of climate change impacts on biological systems will also be discussed.
BIO414H5: Advanced Integrative Physiology
The integration of cardiovascular, renal, respiratory and muscle physiology will be examined with a problem-based approach. The response of these systems to challenges such as altitude, depth under water, and exercise will be examined. Laboratory activities will give students hands on experience measuring physiological variables of these systems with primarily human subjects, while other examples will be used to examine the diversity of response to environmental challenges throughout the animal kingdom.
BIO416H5: Field Course in Ecology
Students may choose from a variety of field courses offered through a cooperative arrangement among ecologists at ten Ontario universities. Courses involve a two-week period at a field site in early May or late August, and require a major paper or project report be submitted within six weeks of course completion. A fee for room and board is usually charged over and above tuition. Lists of courses available are posted at http://www.oupfb.ca/info.html Please check this link in January for application dates. Information can also be found on the UTM Biology website.
BIO417H5: Molecular and Structural Genomics
Genetic information shapes almost all aspects of life. How is this information organized and inherited? How does it influence individuals and how does help to understand disease? The course explores the structure and function of chromatin i.e. the management of biological information. We will explore how the genome is packaged, expressed, replicated and repaired. We will look into chromosome sets and inheritance, accessibility of the genome to the molecular machinery, DNA repair, and modern techniques in research and diagnostics.
BIO419H5: Molecular Aspects of Gene Regulation
Gene expression is regulated during development in multicellular organisms. The study of gene regulation is tightly linked to our understanding of cell types and functions. This course provides an overview of the molecular aspects of gene expression, including transcription, regulatory RNAs, chromatin regulation, and genomic regulation. Students will read, critique, and present recently published research articles on gene regulation in eukaryotes.
BIO422H5: Environmental Epigenetics
Organisms show a remarkable plasticity that allows them to grow and survive in an ever-changing environment. Epigenetic mechanisms provide a fascinating layer of regulation that integrates the genome and environment. In addition, epigenetic marks can contribute to lasting effects across generations without changes in the underlying DNA sequence. This course explores how plant and animal epigenomes respond to change such as stresses or developmental transitions. Influences on genome function, phenotype, and how epigenetic marks are transmitted will be discussed interactively drawing on recent primary literature and modern technological advances.
BIO424H5: Movement Ecology
Individuals move throughout their lifecycle. They find a home, escape predation, and search for food and mates. We will explore the patterns and causes of different movement types and their eco-evolutionary consequences, from the individual level, up to the whole ecosystem. Examples will come from both terrestrial and aquatic realms.
BIO427H5: Data Science in Biology
Biology has become a data-driven science with the arrival of complex datasets. Extracting information from these large-scale experiments requires approaches that unify statistics and computer science. The course will focus on strengthening mathematical intuition on core topics such as hypothesis testing and statistical models while connecting these to machine learning.
BIO429H5: Data analysis in Neurobiology
This course explains the fundamental principles of biological data analysis by focusing on neuroscience datasets. Students will learn methods for sampling data, testing hypotheses, multiple linear regression, PCA, clustering through both lectures and practical exercises. These methods will be discussed in the context of current research in understanding brain functions.
BIO436H5: Labs in Animal Developmental Biology
During animal development, a fertilized egg becomes a complex multicellular organism, in which groups of cells are organized into specialized structures. In this course, cellular, molecular, and genetic experimental techniques will be used to understand key events during animal development. Topics, including axis formation, stem cell patterning, and regeneration, will be studied using classic developmental model organisms.
BIO443H5: Phylogenetic Principles
Lectures will provide an in-depth coverage of modern methods of phylogenetic reconstruction including molecular systematics based on DNA sequences. The principles and philosophy of classification will be taught with an emphasis on 'tree-thinking', one of the most important conceptual advances in evolutionary biology. Tutorials will focus on recent developments in the study of evolutionary patterns while gaining proficiency in reading, presenting, and critiquing scientific papers.
BIO444H5: Urban Field Ecology and Evolution
This course will introduce students to the fundamentals of urban ecology and evolution using the Greater Toronto Area as a model to study the topic. The course will focus on understanding how ecological and evolutionary processes are influenced by urban development, human behaviour, and the built environment, and how the environment can feed back to shape cities and socio-ecology, including human behaviour and well-being. Students will be introduced to principles of the scientific process including making observations, stating hypotheses, experimental design, conducting experiments, data collection, statistical analysis and interpretation, and scientific writing and oral presentations. The course will focus on all major habitats in urban areas to understand how urban environmental change of air, water and land influence the ecology and evolution of populations, communities and ecosystems.
BIO445H5: Evolutionary Ecology
This course focuses on the interface between ecology and evolution. Research has shown that biotic and abiotic ecological factors drive evolution, and in turn, evolution feeds back to influence the ecological processes and patterns of populations and communities. Throughout this course we will focus on this dynamic interplay over short and long time spans in animals, plants, fungi, and other microbes. While covering the concepts and questions of this field we will also consider the theory, methods, and statistics used to bring new insights to evolutionary ecology. Students will be expected to participate in discussions, present methods and concepts to the class, and complete written assignments.
BIO458H5: Genomics
The genome has been referred to as the blueprint of life and consists of the full complement of genes and genetic material carried by an organism. The ongoing revolution in DNA sequencing allows biologists to observe the variety of genetic and genomic structures that underpin the diversity of life. In addition, applications of genomic technologies have facilitated new fields of research such as personalized medicine and evolutionary genomics. The lectures will focus on the diversity of genomic structures, their functions and evolutionary origins. The course also has computer-based practicals that provide hands-on training with cutting-edge bioinformatic tools for analysis of genome-scale datasets and next generation sequencing data.
BIO464H5: Conservation and Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the sum of species diversity, and also the interaction of species at population, at ecosystem and at migration-route levels; it is one barometer of environmental health. Conservation biology applies ecological and genetic principles to the problem of declining biodiversity. We discuss the species concept, quantification and cost-benefit analysis of biodiversity and extinction, causes, consequence, diagnosis and treatment of population declines, as well as the effects of different land uses on biodiversity and reserve design. A key part of this course is a case study by each student.
Note: Students from a wide range of programs are encouraged to enrol.
BIO475H5: Virology
Virology examines the biology of viruses infecting all forms of life including humans and other animals, plants, eukaryotic microorganisms, and bacteria. The scope ranges from the molecular biology of virus replication to virus evolution and ecology. Current issues surrounding virology and society are incorporated into the course including vaccines, emerging viruses, and even consideration of practical applications of viruses.
BIO476H5: Molecular Basis of Disease
This advanced course explores the primary concepts of pathogenesis and investigates current research in the field of molecular pathology. Specific disease topics include inflammation, injury and repair, neoplasia, immune disorders, infectious disease, cardiovascular disease, and toxicology. Analysis of the primary literature is a key component of this course.
BIO477H5: The Human Genome and Cancer Biology
The first part of the course examines the structure and molecular biology of the human genome. Topics will include: the sequencing of the human genome; variation between genomes; and various aspects of functional genomics such as a brief overview of how gene expression is regulated and how genomics is being utilized in health and medicine. Techniques such as high throughput sequencing will be covered. The second part of the course examines the molecular and genetic basis of cancer including the role of oncogenes, tumor suppressor genes and cell cycle regulating proteins in the development of this disease. It also looks at cancer from a functional genomics perspective. Lectures and seminars involve presentations and discussion of recently published research articles.
BIO481Y5: Biology Research Project
Students in this course will conduct a research project under the supervision of a faculty member in the Department of Biology. The course is open to third and fourth year students. Students learn how to design, carry out, and evaluate the results of a research project. Students are required to write and present a research proposal, write a term paper, and present a seminar on the results of their research project. All students interested in a research project must approach potential faculty supervisors several months in advance of the beginning of term. Students must obtain permission from the faculty member whom they would like to serve as their project supervisor. Students must meet with the course coordinator periodically throughout the academic year.
BIO483H5: Selected Topics in Biology I
The focus of this advanced course will reflect the expertise and research of the Instructor. Students will actively participate in the discussion, criticism and interpretations of recent scientific papers. Implications and applications of these research advances will be explored. Current year's topic will be listed on the Biology department website. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
BIO484H5: Selected Topics in Biology II
The focus of this advanced course will reflect the expertise and research of the Instructor. Students will actively participate in the discussion, criticism and interpretations of recent scientific papers. Implications and applications of these research advances will be explored. Current year's topic will be listed on the Biology department website. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
CBJ481Y5: Independent Project in Bioinformatics
This course is intended for students in the Bioinformatics Specialist degree program. Possible areas in which the research may take place include: functional genomics (e.g., microarray and proteomic data analysis); systems biology; and the development of novel analytical methods for large datasets. Students will be required to produce a written document of their project and present it orally. In order to enrol in this course, students must obtain, several months in advance, approval from a faculty member(s) who will serve as supervisor(s).
CCT109H5: Contemporary Communication Technologies
This course examines different information and communication technologies (ICTs) through the analysis of such genres as contemporary written, visual, oral, electronic and musical forms. It illustrates a range of theoretical perspectives that seek to explain the relationship between communication and technology. This course will also examine, briefly, the history of ICTs.
CCT110H5: Rhetoric and Media
This course critically examines the written, visual, aural, and dynamic rhetoric as it pertains to communications for academic and other purposes across a range of digital and interactive media discourses.
CCT111H5: Critical Coding
This experiential learning course introduces students to the practice and theory of coding, programming, and basic development of user-oriented software. The lectures illustrate a core range of software development concepts that provide the foundations needed for the practical coding of front-end applications such as mobile interfaces or of back-end software such as introductory artificial intelligence or social media analysis. The practicals are lab-based and focus on applying these theoretical skills to solving problems grounded in a critical understanding of the interaction between people, culture, and society, by developing software or apps in languages such as Java, Objective C, Swift, Python.
CCT112H5: Foundations of Management
This course introduces students to the foundational principles and analytical tools from the management discipline in link with today’s economic and technological advancements. Particular emphasis is given to the interconnections between information and communications technologies, innovation, the role of managers and their decision-making processes, and related social, cultural, and economic institutions.
CCT200H5: Race, Media and Culture
This course provides an introduction to the intersecting fields of critical race, media, and cultural studies. We will pay particular attention to dynamics of social difference and power and the communication strategies and technologies through which these are navigated, reproduced and interrupted. Students will be introduced to critical and analytical tools for understanding the cultural and media circulation, regulation and reimagination of things like race, sexuality, time, gender, class, indigeneity, space, ethnicity, ability and nationality. These critical tools equip students with the skills to write, design and build ethical innovations in new media and culture.
CCT202H5: Human-Machine Communication
From voice responsive cars and virtual assistants to social robots and smart toys, people are increasingly interacting with communicative technologies in their daily lives. In this course students will consider the implications of this evolution in communication practice – informing design, ethics, efficacy, privacy, and other implications. Human-machine communication is a specific area of study within communication encompassing human-computer interaction, human-robot interaction, and human-agent interaction.
CCT203H5: Business Research Methods
This course provides an introduction to research design, conduct, and analysis for making informed business decisions. The course will focus on basic methodologies, qualitative and quantitative methods, data sources, reliability, validity, and other measurement issues, data collection and research design, ethics in research, and report writing and presentation.
CCT204H5: Design Thinking I
An introduction to the basic concepts and skills of design thinking as an interdisciplinary subject. Emphasizes creative and critical thinking in the design process; provides the student with the theory and operational skills necessary to solve design problems in the realms of symbolic and visual communication, material objects, environments, and organized services and activities.
CCT205H5: Digital Innovation and Cultural Transformation
This course examines a range of theoretical perspectives and worldviews that assess the cultural and social changes brought about by modern technology. These perspectives will be used to analyze the potential problems initiated by the introduction of digital and computing technologies to various contexts. Possible topics include: cybernetics; media convergence; artificial intelligence/life; smart technology; digital environmentalism and digital warfare.
CCT206H5: Law, Technology and Culture
This course will provide a detailed review of copyright, trademark and patent law with a special emphasis on how they apply to digital media. This course will also review the law of contract as it applies to digital industries and investigate the relevant tort law. In addition, other regulatory issues will be discussed such as telecommunications and broadcasting law both from a Canadian and an international perspective.
CCT208H5: Communications Research Methods
This course is a survey of research methodologies in the field of communication and media. A central goal of the course is to train students how to critically assess methods commonly used in social science research. Students will also become familiar with how to properly collect and interpret quantitative and qualitative social science research data.
CCT210H5: Signs, Referents, and Meaning
How written or spoken statements, gestures, and aesthetic objects come to have meanings. How we recognize and fail to recognize such meanings. The nature, systems, and processes of interpretation. The role of mental models.
CCT211H5: Fundamentals of User Interface Programming
This experiential learning course introduces students to the practice and theory of coding, programming, and development of user interfaces. The lectures illustrate an advanced range of software development concepts needed for the practical coding of user interfaces across a variety of devices. The practicals are lab-based and focus on applying these theoretical skills to design, implementation, and testing of user interface software components. Students will have the opportunity to acquire project management and software engineering skills Scrum, Agile), programming languages (Java, Javascript, Objective C, Swift, and other mobile and web programming languages), and evaluation methodologies (unit testing, bug tracking).
CCT212H5: Coding Cultures
This course introduces students to the critical study of computing and its interaction with culture and society. It examines how relations between humans and technology create different kinds of technocultures. Students will explore contemporary technologies from both a technical and cultural/historical point of view, focusing on the labour of coding, the materiality of software code, the role of intellectual property, and the cultures that sustain and arise from digital media production.
CCT218H5: Foundations of Media and Technology Studies
An introduction to foundational theories for studying the relationship between media, technology and society. The course presents technology as a social practice and considers a wide variety of concepts and methods for studying its cultural and political significance.
CCT219H5: Media Economics I
This course presents economic principles that explain how markets help organize exchange and production among competing but nevertheless cooperating economic units. Theories of consumer demand, the economic nature and function of business firms, optimal business decision rules of monopoly, oligopoly, and anti-combines regulations, as well as game theory, are presented. Efficiency criteria pertaining to the operation of firms and markets, the role of property rights, and the scope for public policy, are also examined.
CCT221H5: Digital Marketing I
Techniques for developing a comprehensive marketing strategy will be developed with particular emphasis on digital products and services. The nature of digital markets, approaches to advertising, pricing and such areas as versioning will also be discussed.
CCT222H5: Political Economy of Communication, Culture, and Technology
The course analyzes the relationship between media systems, communication technologies, and power. As an introduction to a political economy approach, this course surveys how media, culture, information and technologies are produced, circulated, and consumed, with attention to both historical developments and contemporary practices in the digital era. The course provides a basic understanding of media systems, technologies, and culture production in relation to the market, the state, and civil society. Students will develop a basic understanding of the political, economic, cultural, and regulatory environment in which media, culture, and technologies are produced, and pay particular attention to the implications of processes such as globalization, digitization, marketization, and commodification for social life.
CCT224H5: Organizational Studies I
This course provides a comprehensive overview of the activities and processes that take place in organizations. Major emphasis is placed on the investigation of the varied measures that can be developed to assess and subsequently improve the performance of the organization. The interpretation of measures in managerial decision-making will also be investigated in detail.
CCT225H5: Information Systems
This course has been designed to provide students with a basic understanding of the role of computers and communication systems in modern organizations. Unlike programming courses, the focus here is on the application of computer-based systems to support information requirements for problem solving and managerial decision-making. Topics include concepts of information, humans as information processors, survey of hardware and software applications, introduction to information systems analysis and design.
CCT226H5: Data Analysis I
This course introduces students to the basic tools of data analysis, most particularly statistics and modeling. Students are introduced to basic principles of descriptive and inferential statistics with a focus on the types of data that they will typically encounter in a digital environment.
CCT250H5: Foundations of Digital Design and Production
Advances in technology have provided users ready access to empowering technologies enabling creative and enterprise digital production. This course provides hands-on skills on critical design and production suites and platforms used across industries and disciplines, centred on the development of industry-standard creative design.
CCT260H5: Web Development and Design I
This course will explore foundational techniques of web development and design in the context of human-centred technologies, and design of experiences, interfaces and interactions. Topics include development of semantic web properties using contemporary programming techniques; standards-based design of responsive accessible systems; and production of rich media for online displays.
CCT261H5: Speculative Design I
This introductory course in information architecture is a foundation of user interface design. Information architects work in organizations to design interfaces that enable users to find and navigate complex data via technology. Using architectural and design concepts to create and organize user-friendly information structures, this course includes exploring theories and hands-on practice with information organization, structure, categorization, representation, navigation and modeling.
CCT270H5: Principles in Game Design
This course introduces the principles behind the rules and play of games. It will foster a solid understanding of how games function to create experiences, through the use of core elements such as game world, characters, interactivity, and the mechanics of gameplay. The course will also situate games within their historical and cultural contexts and discuss current economic models and production trends within the games industry.
CCT273H5: Professional Practice and Communication
This professional practice course provides students with basic skills in professional communication, acumen, and problem solving that will help them develop personally and professionally.
CCT285H5: Immersive Environment Design
Students will develop skills in the areas of bitmap/vector graphics, audio/visual production and editing, 2D/3D modeling and animation, and video game design. Students will produce immersive environments while addressing and engaging issues of remix culture and intellectual property.
CCT286H5: Interactive Media Design
This course provides students with the opportunity to learn the skills necessary to produce responsive web content. Students will develop skills in the areas of website design, interactive and animated web content, mobile app development, and mobile game development.
CCT295H5: Topics in Communication, Culture, Information and Technology
An in depth examination of selected topics in communication, culture, information and technology. Topics vary from year to year, and the content in any given year depends on the instructor. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L, S, T, P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
CCT300H5: Critical Analysis of Media
This course offers an overview of critical theoretical concepts and applies them to contemporary media. Students will use concepts from social theory, media studies and technology studies to critically analyze the many facets of the evolution and pervasiveness of digital media.
CCT302H5: Developing and Managing Communication Campaigns and Projects
Communication campaigns and projects, whether they involve marketing, politics, or advertising require the establishment of objectives, tasks, and milestones. Furthermore developing and managing campaigns requires the development of knowledge and skills relating to the management of teams. Students will acquire analytic skills allowing them to understand the development and management of communication campaigns and projects. Current theory and research will comprise an integral part of the course as will study of the appropriate software tools. A significant component of the assessment for this course will be a group project that will involve the design of a communication campaign or project which will be presented to a group of experts.
CCT303H5: Communicating In and Between Organizations
This course examines the nature of communications in organizations. Communications are the glue that holds organizations together. Understanding theoretically and practically the multi-faceted functions of communication in and between organizations is essential for anyone seeking to develop a career in an organization whether it be private or public. Students will acquire analytic skills allowing them to understand organizational communication from a variety of different perspectives. They will also be required to develop and actively critique practical examples of organizational communication.
CCT304H5: Visual Culture and Communication
This is a theoretically and historically driven course that examines visual politics. We consider how visual culture and visual communication shape essential questions of power and difference in society. Topics include: the production and circulation of images, aesthetic genealogies, and the politics of race and gender.
CCT305H5: Design and Implementation of Multimedia Documents
The principles and techniques of user-centered, functional design are introduced and applied to the analysis of software interfaces and the creation of multimedia documents. The roles of shared metaphors and mental models in clear, concise and usable designs are emphasized. Students will produce multimedia documents, which make effective use of text, colour, user input, audio, still, and time-based images.
CCT306H5: Interpersonal Communication
An introduction to the cognitive, social, dyadic and group factors that shape communication and relational development between people. The objective of this course is for students to learn and apply the communication processes involved in encoding and decoding messages that help us understand others around us. Students will learn concepts, theories, and skills related to interpersonal communication. Topics include impression management, interpersonal influence, relational development, and conversational skills.
CCT307H5: Critical Infrastructure Studies
This course explores how infrastructures shape society, culture, and understanding of the human condition. We examine different infrastructures from electric networks to communication networks, data farms, environmental sensing systems, smart cities, and satellite technologies and our reliance on them. We will also examine how these infrastructures are sustained and maintained. By building on critical theories and approaches to infrastructures and their impact, the course investigates the power of infrastructure to establish the conditions of our daily lives.
CCT308H5: Advanced Research Methodologies
This course provides students with an in-depth study and critical analysis of research methodologies within the discipline of communications and new media. Students will learn to explicitly identify generalizable findings, ethical concerns, study limitations, and new contributions to the field of knowledge using existing studies in qualitative, quantitative and mixed methodologies. Students will also gain experience in identifying and assessing problems within a research design and develop the ability to recommend revisions and/or new contexts and techniques for replicating the studies.
CCT310H5: Popular Culture and Society
How does consumerism affect symbolic production, circulation and transactions? Major modern theories of mass communication will be presented (Fiske, Bourdieu, Benjamin, Jenkins, Frankfurt school, and Marxist approaches). Students will explore new structures of mass communication in relation to popular culture systems, and their economic, technological and institutional dimensions. Topics include Disney, Hollywood, celebrity culture, social media, and user generated content in digital environments.
CCT311H5: Game Design and Theory
This course provides an introduction to games studies. It reviews the history of games, from board and card games through to the latest digital games. It enables students to understand the medium of games through various lenses such as critical theory and ethnography. Students are introduced to the concepts of game narrative, the influence of technology in digital games, and the emergence of game paradigms such as casual games, serious games, game ‘modding’, and subversive play.
CCT314H5: Mind, Media and Representation
This course applies a variety of theoretical and practical approaches to consider the multiple and often conflicting ways representations in media are produced and consumed. The study of representations is approached from the perspective that they are best understood as both discursive and ideological. Questions to be examined include: What does it mean for historical and contemporary representations to carry economic, ideological and discursive power? To what extent do audiences hold power to resist or negotiate with representations? How might we interrogate the notion that we live in a post-feminist, post-racialized society in which older ideas about gender, race and power no longer apply or need re-thinking?
CCT316H5: Communication and Advertising
A study of theories in communication and meaning with different reference to advertising, advertising messages, and advertising management.
CCT317H5: Creative and Experimental Coding
This course will instruct students in the use of programming languages such as Python or Processing for novel applications, including cases from animation, design, and information visualization. Appropriate use of code libraries, platforms and programming techniques will be developed. Assessment will be based on both programming and the expressive use of programs in their case context.
CCT318H5: Sustainability and the Digital Enterprise
This course focuses on investigating the impacts of the digital enterprise on sustainability. The course presents an overview of the sustainability challenges and the concrete approaches to solving those challenges with the use of technology. The course uses an active learning approach allowing students the opportunity to learn while working on different sustainability projects linked to digital enterprises.
CCT320H5: Communication, Technology, and Social Change
This course explores how media and media technology have shifted the nature of existing political and social orders. We will focus on how social movements and political change engage media and technology to disrupt social norms and practices that perpetuate inequality. This will bring us in contact with theories of social movement mobilization, political communication, and digital media. We may also explore the ways that legacy and digital media have changed to be in service of misinformation and state repression.
CCT321H5: Introduction to Finance
This course will provide students with an understanding of investment appraisal from a financial standpoint. It will provide them with the necessary tools to construct the financial component of a business plan and analyze the financial performance of a company. It will examine the practical problems of capital budgeting and highlight the techniques of performing ongoing monitoring of a company's financial health and risks.
CCT324H5: Organizational Studies II
Overview of individual and group behaviour in organizations, including motivation, communication, decision making, influence and group dynamics. Examination of major aspects of organizational design including structure, environment, technology, goals, size, inter-organizational relationships, innovation and change.
CCT325H5: Media Economics II
This course explores macroeconomics through the analysis of national and international crises. The course begins with a discussion of the nature of economics, a brief examination of markets, and a discussion of crisis and growth. We survey the institutions and dynamics of growth in the post WWII period, their breakdown in the 1960s and the spread of international crisis in the 1970s, and the crises of various economic policy responses from the 1980s to the present. After this historical overview, we explore macroeconomic theory and its development over the last 50 years. We study the Keynesian model and its emphasis on employment and output, its crisis in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the rise of monetarist alternatives, the elaboration of aggregate supply and demand models highlighting prices instead of employment, the surge of supply-side and rational expectations economics during the Reagan administration and the continuing debates among economists over the merits and problems of the various theoretical approaches. The course closes with an examination the various forms of crises tied to the emergence of information and communications technologies and the knowledge economy.
CCT327H5: Price Management
Price setting is one of the most important marketing mix decisions, which involves understanding both supply side factors (e.g., costs), and demand side factors (e.g. consumer willingness to pay). In this course, we will approach the pricing decision with a more pragmatic view encompassing a comprehensive understanding of the demand side; both at the level of individual customer values, and the more aggregate level of price sensitivities of the market. Using diverse categories, such as healthcare, industrial products and consumer packaged goods, this course will equip students with economic and behavioral approaches to pricing, value pricing, price customization, price bundling and retail pricing strategies.
CCT328H5: Project Management
Approaches to the management of complex technical projects will be investigated. Topics include project estimating, costing and evaluation, organizing and managing project teams, quantitative methods for project planning and scheduling, introduction to computer-based project management tools. The course may involve an applied field project.
CCT331H5: Social Media and Society
This course introduces students to critical approaches to social media drawing from theories and fields including software studies, platform studies, critical theory and political economy. The course provides students with tools and theories to analyze and understand current social media connectivity, and how social media platforms function as socio-cultural systems.
CCT332H5: Canadian Communication Policy
This course examines the policy and regulatory frameworks that shape media, culture, and technology in Canada. The course surveys the historical development of communication policy in Canada, broadly understood, and introduces students to issues and debates in the development of communication policy for specific sectors such as broadcasting, creative industries, platforms, and the internet.
CCT333H5: Social Innovation
This course introduces students to the strategies and processes of social innovation through usability studies, systems analysis, and artifact prototyping for new products or services for underserved groups. Students will learn various techniques of understanding user needs requirements and design methodologies, and apply this knowledge to create socially innovative prototypes to apply to real world situations. By the end of this course, students will have worked in groups to develop design alternatives for a technological artifact or system of their choosing, gain knowledge of human-centred design strategies and learn how to become change agents through case studies, best practice analyses, and relevant readings.
CCT334H5: History and Theory of Game Production
This course will examine the principles, theory and practice behind the production of games. By examining the history and contributions of early founders such as Atari and Activision, all the way to present-day leaders such as Electronic Arts and Sony, students will gain an understanding of how the global video game industry operates. The lectures and practical work will foster an approach to the understanding of game production issues including technology, law, marketplace and audience demand.
CCT335H5: Technology and the City
Technology continues to reshape the physical contours of our built environments as much as it redefines our conceptualization of how we inhabit and interact within them. This course investigates how urban form, space, infrastructure and communication are mediated by new and evolving technologies.
CCT340H5: Gender, Media and Technology
This course brings a gendered lens to the study of media and technology. The course explores the (re)production and (re)presentation of gender through communicative practices in a variety of mediums, including print media, TV, activist media, video games and online platforms. The course develops an understanding of gender ideologies and how media, technologies, and communication help produce gender. The course examines the way gender identities are constructed by mainstream and alternative media; gendered divisions of media and digital labour; the relationship between ICTs and the performance of gender and sexuality; masculinities, gender politics; feminist theory; and the construction and negotiation of gender in relation to mediated environments.
CCT341H5: Introduction to IT Consulting
Information Technology (IT) Consulting is a growing profession that embodies the use of computer-supported collaborative tools in the execution of business functions. In this course students engage with the principles of Computer Supported Co-operative Work (CSCW) through an experiential opportunity to work with a real client. Students create an IT Consulting company and take on the role of consultants, learning core skills (soft and hard) necessary for this profession, including client management, communication, ideation, analysis and solution development, project management, presentation skills, and web design. Using case studies we discuss consulting lessons learned and problems to avoid within the context of industry best practices.
CCT353H5: Digital Media Production l
This foundational course is centred on the practical aspects of producing narrative, still, and time-based imagery in digital environments. Industry-standard workflows and delivery systems of digital media production, including photography, video, and audio production platforms will be explored.
CCT354H5: Digital Marketing II
This course examines digital marketing strategies and the role of online and mobile advertising platforms. Students will explore how emerging technologies are used to facilitate B2B and B2C transactions. A number of domains will be covered (search, display, programmatic trading, mobile, social, etc.) to give students a comprehensive understanding of both existing marketing strategies and emerging trends. This class will emphasize the strengths and weaknesses of various approaches to digital marketing while helping students develop a greater understanding of the different elements of marketing campaigns from formulation and implementation to integration and assessment.
CCT355H5: Critical Approaches to Innovation
This course provides students with a survey of critical theories appropriate to the study of technological innovation. Students will: 1) explore theories of the social, cultural, and ecological impacts of technological innovation; 2) apply these theoretical lenses to the study of trends in innovation; and 3) propose a product or approach to innovation using social, cultural, or ecological criteria.
CCT356H5: Online Advertising and Marketing
This course investigates the industrial practices and tools of effectively marketing and promoting goods and services online. Topics include analysis of contemporary online advertisement design, the effective use of social media technologies in product marketing, planning online campaigns that reinforce and complement existing marketing and advertising efforts, and understanding key metrics used to evaluate a campaign's effectiveness.
CCT360H5: Web Development and Design II
This course will introduce advanced standards-based frameworks that support the development of responsive front-end systems. Key concepts covered in this course include the application of advanced markup and design strategies, scripting languages applied to dynamic interactions, frameworks and code version control, and foundations of server-side implementations.
CCT361H5: Speculative Design II
In this course students are introduced to programming languages regularly used in management operations. Students will learn what these languages are, when and why they are applied, and how to read and write basic scripting code. The goal of this course is to familiarize students with scripting so that they can communicate more effectively with programmers in business settings.
CCT365H5: Surveillance
From the Orwellian Big Brother to Foucault's panopticon, surveillance has become an everyday facet of modern life. From a surveillance studies perspective surveillance can be applied as a framework for understanding social, political, and technological interrelationships. This framework can help us study more effectively power, identity, persuasion, and control associated with the spread of Information Communication Technologies (ICT's). This course will introduce students to viewpoints, vision and visibility in surveillance studies. The class will look at a range of topics from information politics, identification, privacy, security, suspicion, social sorting, bodies, borders and biometrics to explore a range of perspectives under the surveillance studies umbrella. It will introduce students to key issues surrounding data, discrimination, and visibility in a global context to undercover the watched world.
CCT371H5: Sound as Media
Sound as Media will provide students with an immersive introduction to the field of sound studies. The course offers a counterpoint to surveys of visual media by exploring acoustic technologies in historical, cultural and spatial context. By considering examples such as the gramophone, public address system, boombox, and MP3 player as well as the theories that account for them, students will develop an understanding of media forms that engage the ear as well as the eye. They will in turn, have the opportunity to apply this understanding to the final project which will give them hands-on experience with creating a sound-based documentary.
CCT373H5: Career Planning and Development
The transition from university studies to professional settings necessitates the articulation of how acquired skill sets, education, professional contacts, supporting resources, and related experiences connect to and influence career trajectories. To facilitate agility in navigating the ever-shifting global economy, within and outside of the classroom students are provided with a mixture of structured, self-directed, independent, and team activities that aid in the development and refinement of professional identities, community networks, communication approaches, and problem solving skills.
CCT374H5: Critical Histories of Information Technologies
The course approaches current information and communication technologies from critical and historical perspectives. It investigates the interests, motives and tactics of news media, pop culture producers, amateurs, universities, corporations, and governments in promoting, sustaining, and interpreting information and communication systems. It also asks how the focus will be on media and information technologies, more theoretical or methodological readings will necessarily cover other systems. Case studies may include investigations of orality, writing, the printing press, industrialized printing, and electronic media from the telegraph and the telephone to broadcasting and the internet.
CCT380H5: Human-Computer Interaction and Communication
The emphasis in this course will be on theoretical, methodological, and empirical issues in the study of Human-Computer Interaction. Intelligent interface designs, usability assessment, user modeling and the accessibility of the technology for the disabled are among the topics to be examined. Related behavioural investigations concerning the ease and efficiency of users' interactions with computerized environments will also be discussed.
CCT381H5: Media Audiences
Audiences are social constructions which must be imagined to be actualized. Beginning with an exploration of the nature and role of audiences from early 20th century media, students explore how audiences make meaning of popular media platforms today. How are audiences situated within media texts, what role does this play in how media is generated and circulated, and how do audiences both enact and resist media influence? Broadcast models, interactive models, audience reading, gender, culture, race, and audience feedback are investigated.
CCT382H5: Prototyping Digital Games
This course explores the fundamentals of the process of game design through prototyping. It focuses on the contexts and components of game design, such as design iteration and user testing along relevant dimensions such as art style, narrative, and game balance. Students will be introduced to design across different genres and types of digital games, including games for education, serious games, indie, and AAA games. Working in collaborative groups, students will learn and practice the appropriate methodology to design game mechanics, characters, art assets and other appropriate deliverables in order to create a game or high-fidelity prototype.
CCT383H5: The Interactive Society
This course introduces students to the theoretical and practical study of how interactive digital media and systems affect, influence and reshape our society and what does it mean to be a "user" in the information-centric society. It will expose students to specific theoretical issues such as privacy by design, usable privacy, marginalized and at-risk user groups, the digital divide, behavioural modification (persuasion) through new media, ICT4D (info tech for development) and empowerment/alienation through intelligent interactive systems. Focus will be on developing skills that will enable students to propose changes (design, policy, framework) to existing and future envisioned interactive technologies that address the issues analyzed.
CCT386H5: Information Practice in Virtual Worlds: Exploration of Information Environments
Virtual environments, immersive 3D environments accessed via computers or virtual reality headsets, comprise a unique and futuristic communication environment. Virtual environments have the potential to support a wide variety of activities related to information creation, distribution, and reception and can support social, economic, and cultural causes. Compared to everyday information practices, however, those enacted in virtual worlds are uniquely characterized by multimodality, synchronicity, digital embodiment and geographic distribution of users. In this course, students engage in participatory learning in virtual environments, using avatars to assess how the world's technological and social affordances support and constrain information practices. Using theories of gaming, virtuality, and information lifecycles, students critically analyse how information is produced and used in these environments.
CCT390H5: Digital Media and Communications Abroad
Students on International exchange programs are encouraged to seek out courses in digital media and technologies that enrich their learning within an international context. This course is intended as an opportunity for students to study global issues and contexts abroad that provide a comparator to the Canadian media and communications landscape.
CCT395H5: Topics in Communication, Culture, Information & Technology
An in-depth examination of selected topics in communication, culture and information technology. Topics vary from year to year, and the content in any given year depends upon the instructor. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L, S, T, P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
CCT399H5: Research Opportunity Program (ROP)
This course provides an opportunity for third or higher year students to assist with the research project of a professor in return for 399H course credit. Students have an opportunity to become involved in original research and enhance their research skills. Based on the nature of the project, projects may satisfy the Humanities, Sciences or Social Sciences distribution requirement. Participating faculty members post their project description for the following summer and fall/winter session on the ROP website in mid-February and students are invited to apply at that time. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
CCT399Y5: Research Opportunity Program (ROP)
This course provides an opportunity for third or higher year students to assist with the research project of a professor in return for 399Y course credit. Students have an opportunity to become involved in original research and enhance their research skills. Based on the nature of the project, projects may satisfy the Humanities, Sciences or Social Sciences distribution requirement. Participating faculty members post their project description for the following summer and fall/winter session on the ROP website in mid-February and students are invited to apply at that time. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
CCT400H5: Advanced Project
Majors and specialists are given the opportunity to develop a critical perspective on selected issues in CCIT. Students design and implement an advanced project on a topic of interest by engaging with advanced readings. A central aim is to refine the skills in critical analysis and in oral and written communication.
CCT401H5: Advanced Thesis Course
Students will carry out a research project on a topic of their choosing which is related to their specific program focus in Digital Enterprise Management. Students will meet as a group for selected seminars emphasizing advanced research skills and thesis writing. Students will develop a research proposal, conduct research, and produce a research paper.
CCT402H5: Creating, Protecting and Managing Digital Artifacts
Digital artifacts play an increasingly important role in our society. It is essential that in the digitization of these artifacts appropriate attention is paid to their representation, protection and management. Students will review the theories and practices of representation. They will investigate the technologies associated with the storage of digital artifacts as well as investigating appropriate legal perspectives. This varied knowledge will be integrated into a study of best practices in the management of digital artifacts.
CCT403H5: Finance, Innovation and the Digital Firm
Students will learn about financial aspects of digital industries. They will gain knowledge about how financial and other incentives shape the decisions of agents in the digital marketplace. Such a knowledge helps to identify industry trends aiding their own decisions when participating in Internet related industries. Topics covered include online and traditional media industries, aspects of e-commerce and marketing, open source software and crowd-sourcing. A highly effective way to gain such knowledge is by covering a relevant topic in an academic essay. This way the students will also improve their writing skills, and learn better how to cover financial aspects of their chosen topic in a scholarly manner.
CCT404H5: Remote Work, Technology and Collaboration
This project-based course aims to demonstrate how collaboration is a critical capability often overlooked. During the course students will integrate their learning and experience and first hand see how, in combination with collaboration it can lead to creatively solving problems in areas as varied as business, health care delivery, urban planning and development. In addition to lectures, students will have the benefit of a series of guest lecturers. A large, group based project will serve to integrate learning and allow students the benefit of experiential learning.
CCT405H5: Individual Project
A research project carried out under the supervision of a faculty member. Students will carry out a research project on a selected topic related to CCIT. Students must obtain signed permission from the faculty member who they would like to have as their supervisor.
CCT409H5: Special Topics in Work-Based Learning
An advanced unpaid field placement working on specially designed projects that explore collaborative, collective and global approaches to practical knowledge application. The placements may include international internships, collaborative group internships and community-based initiatives. The projects may vary from year to year depending on the external partners. Students will engage with others in the course through an online class component and complete individual reports and critical evaluations of the work experience.
CCT410H5: CCIT Internship I
This course is a practical internship and is available only upon application from students registered in the CCIT/DEM/TCS programs. Through a placement, students will apply the expertise in communication, culture, and information technology that they have gained through previous courses. Students must plan well in advance for the placement and work closely with the placement officer for CCIT to determine eligibility and suitability. A report and presentation will be required at the end of the placement. These, along with the employer's assessment, will provide the main part of the course mark.
CCT411H5: CCIT Internship II
This course is a practical internship and is available upon application from students registered in any CCIT program who have completed CCT410H5. The course is intended for students who have the opportunity to continue their CCT410H5 internship for a second semester. A report and presentation will be required at the end of the placement. These, along with the employer's assessment, will provide the main part of the course mark.
CCT414H5: Special Topics in Knowledge, Media and Design
An in-depth examination of selected topics in interactive digital media with emphasis on knowledge, media and design. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L, S, T, P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
CCT416H5: Social Data Analytics
This course highlights the research in analysis for social data and builds skills to undertake those analysis. It is a lab-intensive course intended to build up data analytic skills for novice and intermediate researchers. Students look at recent studies using "big data" which are primarily theoretical, including critiques of data analytics and concerns surrounding data ethics. Students learn a programming language -- Python -- and how to scrape social data, store and collect it, run basic statistics, generate visuals, and create a report based on a project of interest.
CCT417H5: Alternative Media
This course examines the history, politics and aesthetics of a range of alternative, underground and radical media, as well as their relation to mainstream media. Students will study and experiment with a range of alternative media, including zines, graffiti, hacking, and culture jamming, for example. Students will gain hands-on experience in the creation of alternative media.
CCT418H5: Work, Media and Technology
The course analyses the political, historical, and technical relationships between media, technology, and work in contemporary capitalism. The course will examine the power and social relationships that structure work in contexts such as media, creative industries, and the platform or "gig" economy. The course will focus on critical theories of work and will engage with case studies of the intersection of work, media and technology. The aim of the course is to build a tool kit for encountering an increasingly casualized and digitally-mediated labour market.
CCT419H5: User Experience Design - UXD and Board Games
This course allows students to explore issues related to user interface, user experience, materiality, gamification and game theory. Board games represent a space to consider social interaction, the use of materials, the role of emotion in design (UX), knowledge sharing and the role gamification plays in influencing behaviour. Students will be exposed to professional and research publications related to design, game theory, user experience and game mechanics.
CCT420H5: Information Technology and Globalization
The variety of ways in which various information technologies influence and are influenced by globalization will be critically examined. The class will explore metaphors or ways of thinking about society and technology to critically examine the complex process and the diverse consequences of globalization. Topics may shift focus yearly but will include the economy, culture, politics, social movements, migration, social identity, war and global conflict, etc.
CCT424H5: Organizational Studies III
An in-depth study of the development of innovative strategies for organizations with an emphasis on digital enterprises. The nature of strategic innovation will be studied and a variety of analytic frameworks introduced. Concepts will be explored through a combination of lectures and case studies.
CCT430H5: Networked Life
The rise of information and communication technologies in contemporary societies has highlighted the interdependent nature of relationships; person-person, person-machine, machine-person, and machine-machine. Network analysis offers a point-of-view with which we can analyze networks to understand the roles of people and technology, identify the source of existing or potential issues, and the exchange of resources and information. This course applies network theory and methodology to examine how technology is used to maintain and build personal networks. It will further explore how personal networks intersect with larger institutional networks (e.g. corporations and universities) and informal networks (e.g. online communities and sports clubs). In the process, students will be guided in how to identify, measure, and collect data on selected networks, how to then analyze this data using a variety of analytic techniques.
CCT431H5: Drones, Robots, Artificial Intelligence
Drones, robots, and artificial intelligence are three interrelated technologies that are changing the most fundamental considerations of how society and sociality should operate. Work, war, consumption, and even love are being reconfigured. This course will address debates concerning the cultural, political, economic, military, and economic considerations surrounding the growing use of these technologies.
CCT432H5: Ethics and Code
A self-driving car should always protect pedestrians, even if that implies serious threat for the vehicle's passengers. Current ethical challenges within our computational cultures has brought forward dilemmas involving code such as designing killer robots, the use of technology to predict and prevent crimes before they happen, and platform surveillance in social media. Students in this course will use theories and case based examples to examine questions such as what is meant with ethics in new media and critical computing, can we program computational systems according to ethical models, and does digital culture force us to rethink what ethics are?
CCT434H5: Design Thinking II
An advanced project-based seminar on the art and creative directions of design thinking. Combining traditional and innovative creativity methods, a variety of design projects are conceptualized and drafted for proposal or implementation. This course embraces design thinking as a holistic, interdisciplinary approach that integrates methodical creativity and overarching design principles, such as aesthetics, futures-thinking, progress and metadesign.
CCT435H5: Media and Outer Space
Examines the relationship between media studies and Outer Space inhabitation and exploration. Through analysis of military, technological, industrial, scientific, design, artistic, and civilian projects, films, novels, science fictions, and other media forms, the class investigates and reveals the historical, social, cultural, and political implications of our mediated relation with Outer Space. Technologies and topics include: the space race and the Cold War, space imagery, extreme environments, space travel, space suits, space vehicles, and space habitats, satellites, extra-terrestrial intelligence, mining, extraction, terraforming, radiation, gravity, and levitation.
CCT436H5: Cultures of Connection
This seminar course students will conduct original research to examine the role that culture plays in choosing and using communication technologies within the context of family, work, and friendship. We will focus on how individuals draw on communication technology to navigate cultural expectations and roles at home, work, and in social settings. To frame this research we will discuss various approaches to defining and understanding culture, and consider how these approaches help us to understand the use of communication technology within a variety of relationships.
CCT440H5: Power, Privilege and Technology
How is social inequality reproduced and encoded in technology systems and in digital media? In what ways do technology and media creations inform and influence perceptions, beliefs, and practices that impact girls and women, communities of colour, Indigenous groups, LGBTQ+ and other minoritized people? This course will address overlapping and intersectional issues of power, privilege, oppression, and sociotechnical imaginaries - all related to networks, big data and predictive analytics, algorithms, digital gig economies, and interactive multimedia like social media and virtual reality.
CCT453H5: Digital Media Production II
Building on the CCT353H5 Digital Media Production I, this course will further develop theoretical and practical aspects of video production and editing. Over the course of the term, we will explore advanced video and sound capture techniques, media mixing, applications of digital libraries and effects in post-processing.
CCT454H5: Documentary Practices
This course explores the form and practice of documentary. Objectivity, ethics, censorship, representation, reflexivity, responsibility to the audience and authorial voice will be examined. Students will engage in practical engagement with documentary forms including the expanded field of documentary using tools such as photography, audio, video, 360 video, VR and new technologies.
CCT460H5: Web Development and Design III
This course builds on the front-end web development skills acquired in the Web Development and Design I & II courses by adding a server-side programming and database design component. Students will learn the theoretical and practical aspects of implementing data-driven applications, leveraging query languages, APIs and Content Management Systems for enterprise systems. Further topics include integration of analytics and search strategies in CMS systems.
CCT461H5: Speculative Design III
Emerging technologies have the potential to transform business models and architectures. In this course students learn the functional and technical underpinnings of selected emerging technologies and critically analyse how these technologies are impacting business functions. Students also gain hands-on experience with emerging technologies and consider how they may be applied or adapted to solve management issues.
CCT470H5: Information Visualization
Visual literacy and the visualization of information are increasingly important competencies in a growing number of fields. This course will explore the history of visually representing information, consider issues related to data visualization and approaches to visually representing data. In addition, students will develop a better understanding of what visualization works best for various types of data, what makes for a strong visualization and the importance of narrative in the construction of graphic data representation.
CCT472H5: Media Archaeology
This course examines media as technical objects with specific histories and a contemporary presence. In the contemporary context where media technologies are programmed to become obsolete, residual forms and practices provide materials traces for analysis. The class will focus on the evolution of media forms, looking particularly at early, antiquated, and obsolete practices and technologies of communication in order to recover their material traces, and to situate them in their historical, social, cultural, and political contexts. Through texts, archival materials, and case studies, old media will be brought back to life to question notions of authenticity, authority, preservation, archiving, temporality, agency, power, evolution, decay, and death.
CCT475H5: Thesis in Integrated Learning in Digital Media, Communication, and Technology
This capstone project course carried out independently under the supervision of a faculty member requires students to reflect on the experiences they gained during their two work placements connected with the Professional Experience Certificate in Digital Media, Communication, and Technology, and develop a comprehensive case study that integrates theories learned within ICCIT and their work placements. Students will be required to participate in one-on-one consultations with the course instructor.
CCT476H5: Foundations of Operations Management
Operations Management deals with the functions of an enterprise that create value for the customers. The scope of study covers all processes involved in the design, production and physical distribution of goods and services. With global competition continuously increasing, a firm's survival depends upon how well it integrates the operations function into the enterprise's general planning and strategy. It is thus essential for business managers to acquire an understanding and appreciation of operations.
CCT477H5: UX Design - Understanding Users
The focus of the course is on understanding the experiences of users and their communities as affected by their interaction with digital technologies in information-centric societies. Students will learn the theoretical framework and practical aspects of advances user-centered design principles (such as participatory design and techno-centric ethnographies). This course represents an opportunity for students to enrich their understanding of the deep interconnections between human factors, human needs, interactive technologies, information, as projected on several dimensions: cultural, societal, ergonomic, and economic.
CCT478H5: UX Design - Prototyping and Evaluation
The course investigates how people interact with interactive digital systems from an evaluation and formal testing perspective, and introduces students to the methods of User Experience Assessment and User Experience Analysis (UXA). This studio-based experiential course examines how interactive systems are implemented and deployed to meet users' needs, with a focus on formal Human Computer Interaction (HCI) evaluation methods. Students will acquire the capacity to evaluate systems and to critically assess different HCI and UX validation methods which are based on industry approaches carried out by User Research Analysis.
CCT481H5: Augmented Places and Social Media Spaces
Increasingly we are seeing a hybridization of information and location, where media provide a framework or environment for users (participants) to construct reality and relationships. The course explores emergence of new ubiquitous communication practices and the increasingly pervasive use of technology for the augmentation of people, places, and objects. In this course, students will explore various approaches to context-based information systems, and the shaping of social media spaces.
CCT483H5: Play, Performance and Community in Digital Games
Students will explore the complex relationship between games and play. Starting with an overview of the major play theories, students will learn how cognitive, philosophical and social theories of play are used to guide and inform game design. The increasingly prominent role of the player in the co-creation and performance of digital games will be examined. Students will also explore the emergence of player communities and consider the various issues that this introduces into design and management process, including important new questions about governance, player and creative freedoms, and immaterial labour.
CCT486H5: Digital Platforms: A Global Perspective
From Apple, Amazon, and Facebook to LINE, WeChat and TikTok, digital platforms dominate contemporary life. This course provides an intellectual voyage of the global spread of digital platforms from the days when they were not yet recognized as platforms to the contemporary era when users can hardly think of an internet without platforms. We will explore questions concerning the penetration of platforms into the social fabric of our digital life on a global scale while paying attention to the local conditions and specificity. Students will engage with key concepts, theories, and approaches related to platform studies through readings and discussions about different types of platforms, ranging from e-commerce and social media to live-streaming and on-demand service matching.
CCT487H5: Advanced Communication Policy in a Global Context
This course provides students with a theoretical and practical understanding of media, technology, and cultural policy in a global context. The course focuses on issues such as national identity and globalization, media convergence, intellectual property, global media regulation, security and privacy by examining how media, communication, and cultural policy is created, influenced, and contested by a range of actors.
CCT490H5: Topics in Communication, Culture, Information and Technology
An in-depth examination of selected topics in communication, culture, information and technology. Topics vary from year to year, and the content in any given year depends upon the instructor. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L, S, T, P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
CCT495H5: Topics in Communication, Culture, Information & Technology
An in-depth examination of selected topics in communication, culture, information and technology. Topics vary from year to year and the content in any given year depends on the instructor. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L, S, T, P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
CCT499H5: Research Opportunity Program (ROP)
This course provides an opportunity for third or higher year students to assist with the resource project of a profession in return for 499H credit. Students have an opportunity to become involved in original research and enhance their research skills. Participating faculty members post their project description for the following summer and fall/winter session on the ROP website in mid-February and students are invited to apply at that time. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
CCT499Y5: Research Opportunity
This course provides an opportunity for third or higher year students to assist with the resource project of a profession in return for 499Y credit. Students have an opportunity to become involved in original research and enhance their research skills. Participating faculty members post their project description for the following summer and fall/winter session on the ROP website in mid-February and students are invited to apply at that time. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
CHI101H5: Introductory Chinese for Students with Prior Background
This course is designed for students who have some prior knowledge of Chinese. Potential students for this course are able to speak and understand elementary Mandarin or any Chinese dialects but with minimal literacy skills (reading and writing), or are able to read and write with either traditional or simplified character at beginner level. This course focuses on phonetics and literacy of Modern Standard Chinese (Mandarin) and addresses integrated skills of listening, speaking, reading, writing and translation.
CHI103H5: Introductory Chinese I
Intended for students with none or minimal background in Mandarin or any Chinese dialects, this course provides a comprehensive introduction to phonetics and written form of Modern Standard Chinese (Mandarin) and covers the topics of functional Chinese at beginner level. All students are REQUIRED to complete the Chinese Language Assessment Questionnaire before enrolling in this course. Please visit https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/language-studies/language-course-assessment-questionnaires and complete the Chinese Language Assessment Questionnaire by no later than August 29th. Late assessment submissions will not be accepted.
CHI104H5: Introductory Chinese II
As the second half of Introductory Chinese, this course continues to expand students’ knowledge and develop their language skills of Mandarin. More topics of functional Chinese are covered in this course. Students who have not completed the listed prerequisite of CHI103H5 are REQUIRED to complete the Chinese Language Assessment Questionnaire (https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/language-studies/language-course-assessment…).
CHI203H5: Intermediate Low Chinese I
As a continuation of Introductory Chinese, this course aims at developing students' language comprehension, expanding their vocabulary and grammar, and improving their skills in listening, speaking, reading, writing and translation in Modern Standard Chinese (Mandarin) at intermediate level. The course content is focused on functional topics. Students who have not completed the listed prerequisite are REQUIRED to complete the Chinese Language Assessment Questionnaire (https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/language-studies/language-course-assessment…) by August 29th. Late assessment submissions will not be accepted.
CHI204H5: Intermediate Low Chinese II
As the second half of Intermediate Chinese, this course continues to develop students' language comprehension, expand their vocabulary and grammar, and improve their skills in listening, speaking, reading, writing and translation in Modern Standard Chinese (Mandarin) at the intermediate level. The course content is focused on functional topics. Students who have not completed the listed prerequisite for this course are REQUIRED to complete the Chinese Language Assessment Questionnaire before enrolling in this course. Please visit https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/language-studies/language-course-assessment-questionnaires and complete the assessment questionnaire by no later than August 29th. Late assessment submissions will not be accepted.
CHI211H5: Chinese for Academic Purposes I
This course, designed for native or near-native speakers of Mandarin Chinese, develops rhetorical knowledge and critical thinking skills for effective academic reading and writing. Students will also receive training in conducting effective formal presentations with supporting media and public speaking skills.
CHI212H5: Chinese for Academic Purposes II
This course, designed for native or near-native speakers of Mandarin Chinese, continues the study of rhetorical knowledge and critical thinking skills for effective academic reading and writing. It also prepares students for upper level courses which demand in-depth reading, writing, as well as professional presentation skills.
CHI303H5: Intermediate High Chinese I
This course, designed for second-language learners of Mandarin Chinese, aims to: 1) develop listening and speaking skills in handling daily routines and social situations related to personal lives; 2) improve reading and writing skills in narration and description on everyday topics; and 3) cultivate cultural knowledge that facilitates effective intercultural communication. Students who have not completed the listed prerequisite are REQUIRED to complete the Chinese Language Assessment Questionnaire (https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/language-studies/language-course-assessment…) by August 29th. Late assessment submissions will not be accepted.
CHI304H5: Intermediate High Chinese II
This course, designed for second-language learners of Mandarin Chinese, is the second half of Intermediate High Chinese. It continues to: 1) develop listening and speaking skills in handling daily routines and social situations related to personal lives; 2) improve reading and writing skills in narration and description on everyday topics; and 3) cultivate cultural knowledge that facilitates effective intercultural communication. Students who have not completed the listed prerequisite are REQUIRED to complete the Chinese Language Assessment Questionnaire (https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/language-studies/language-course-assessment…) by August 29th. Late assessment submissions will not be accepted.
CHI308H5: Chinese Cultural Studies Seminar
This seminar course provides a platform for critical discussion of what we call "Chinese culture". Students will consider ideas of invented traditions, the essentialization of culture, and questions about modern states and regions. Topics may include Chinese civilization, customs, rituals, religion, philosophy, ideology, morals, literature, folk art and craft, performance arts, martial arts, cuisine, medicine, etc. The discussions will draw from historical and contemporary topics.
CHI310H5: Chinese for Career Development
This course is designed for near-native or native speakers of Mandarin Chinese who are interested in advancing their careers in Chinese-speaking regions and in North America. Students will develop knowledge in career planning from cross-cultural perspectives, from job search, to applications and interview processes in Chinese-speaking regions of Asia and in North America. They will build a solid foundation for reading, writing, and speaking Chinese in a business setting.
CHI311H5: Classical Chinese Literature
This course will examine representative genres of traditional Chinese literature—poetry, prose, fiction, and drama—with an emphasis on language structure, style, and the influence on modern Chinese society and culture. We will also analyze the aesthetic features of classics and discuss the influences of traditional Chinese society on literature in terms of religion, philosophy, the imperial system, gender, family, and ethnicity.
CHI312H5: Chinese Diaspora Literature and Culture
This course examines literary and cinematic works as well as visual art by authors of the Chinese diaspora. The course covers topics such as multiculturalism, racism, cultural preservation, invented traditions, and agency through the lens of overseas Chinese writers and creators.
CHI313H5: The Wisdom of Life in Traditional Chinese Culture
This course explores different thought systems, ideas and the wisdom of human life rooted in traditional Chinese culture from the following two approaches: a theoretical discussion of the purpose, meaning, and value of human life, ideals and ways of life, existential questions and multiple solutions; and a historical as well as critical examination of the conventional wisdom originated by Chinese cultural figures like Laozi, Confucius, Mencius, Sima Qian, Zhu Xi, Qian Mu, Qian Zhongshu and more. The goal of the course is to facilitate student consideration of the essence of human life and the understanding of contemporary Chinese views by ascertaining traditional Chinese erudition. Through the examination of traditional Chinese scholarship, students will develop an understanding of the connection between such teachings and contemporary Chinese views.
CHI314H5: Chinese Culture through Media
This course examines Chinese cultural traditions and values through contemporary media produced in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Background readings and literary works will provide students with the necessary historical and cultural context for each work. Class discussions will focus on the political, social and cultural transformations presented in the media. Special attention will be paid to topics such as family, class issues, gender and identity.
CHI403H5: Advanced Chinese I
This course, designed for second-language learners of Mandarin Chinese, aims to: 1) develop listening and speaking skills in handling most informal and some formal communicative tasks; 2) strengthen reading and writing skills in expository and persuasive essays on familiar cultural and social topics; 3) cultivate cultural knowledge that facilitates effective intercultural communication. Students who have not completed the listed prerequisite are REQUIRED to complete the Chinese Language Assessment Questionnaire (https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/language-studies/language-course-assessment…) by August 29th. Late assessment submissions will not be accepted.
CHI404H5: Advanced Chinese II
This course, designed for second-language learners of Mandarin Chinese, is the second half of Advanced Chinese. It continues to: 1) develop listening and speaking skills in handling most informal and some formal communicative tasks; 2) strengthen reading and writing skills in expository and persuasive essays on familiar cultural and social topics; and 3) cultivate cultural knowledge that facilitates effective intercultural communication. Students who have not completed the listed prerequisite are REQUIRED to complete the Chinese Language Assessment Questionnaire (https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/language-studies/language-course-assessment…) by August 29th. Late assessment submissions will not be accepted.
CHI408H5: Reading Confucianism in Modern Chinese
This advanced level course covers seminal readings on Confucianism written in modern Chinese language. The course examines Confucian doctrines and the development of Confucianism from ancient time to the contemporary era. Critical reading and essay writing skills will be emphasized.
CHI409H5: Influence of Confucianism on Chinese Culture
This advanced level course discusses the cultural influence of Confucianism on Chinese writing, philosophy, religion, education, literature, customs, ethics, society and so forth. The readings covered in this course are mainly in modern Chinese language. Critical reading and essay writing skills will be stressed.
CHI410H5: Modern Chinese Literature Studies
This seminar course offers a critical examination of modern Chinese literature. modern Chinese literature. The primary focus will be on representative works of poetry, prose, drama, and fiction. Discussions will emphasize historical, cultural, and social-political contexts. Emphasis will be placed on building writing skills in literary criticism and analyzing literary devices and themes.
CHI411H5: Theory and Practice in English/Chinese Translation
This course is an introduction to the major theories, methods and techniques involved in translating from English into Chinese. The course focuses on practical training for novice translators. Through practice, students will familiarize themselves with the translation process and develop a variety of translation skills and strategies. Students will discuss and reflect upon issues encountered during translation and develop decision-making ability to deal with translation challenges. This course provides a solid foundation for students to continue their studies in translation at the advanced level.
CHM101H5: The Science of Human Health
This course is intended for humanities and social science students who wish to gain knowledge of the science behind our well-being that may help them to make personal, social and political decisions in their future. Chemistry will be taught on a need-to-know basis in order to consider some contemporary applications. The course will focus on three themes in the realm of human health: nutrition for the prevention of disease, diagnostic tests for the detection of disease and drug discovery for the treatment of disease. Among the questions that may be addressed are "What is the nutritional difference between vitamins from foods and those from supplements?", "Should ketchup be considered a vegetable?", "How do diagnostic strips work?", "What advances in microfluidics have provided inexpensive diagnostics for use in remote areas?", "How are drug targets identified?", and "What is the path from drug discovery to bringing a drug to market?". The roles of nutritional, analytical and medicinal chemistry in these processes will be studied. (Please note the course exclusion: Students are ineligible to register for this course if they have taken any previous or current CHM/JCP course).
CHM110H5: Chemical Principles 1
Matter and its transformations are studied at the macroscopic level. Topics include stoichiometry, phases of matter, equilibria, thermodynamics and electrochemistry.
CHM120H5: Chemical Principles 2
Building on the subject matter of CHM110H5, molecular events are studied at the microscopic level. Topics include atomic and molecular structure, intermolecular forces of attraction, reaction kinetics, and organic chemical reactions and mechanisms.
CHM211H5: Fundamentals of Analytical Chemistry
A rigorous introduction to the theory and practice of analytical chemistry. Development and applications of basic statistical concepts in treatment and interpretation of analytical data; direct and indirect precipitations; volumetric methods; acid-base, complexometric, redox and precipitation titrations; introduction to instrumental methods; potentiometry and absorption spectroscopy. Applications in biomedical, forensic and environmental areas will be considered.
CHM231H5: Inorganic Chemistry I
Atomic structure; periodic properties of the elements; bonding theories-ionic, covalent (valence bond and molecular orbital) and metallic; structure and bonding in coordination compounds of main group elements and transition metals; descriptive chemistry of the metals. Reaction mechanisms.
CHM242H5: Introductory Organic Chemistry I
Fundamentals of organic chemistry emphasizing reactions of alkanes and alkenes. The first half of a two-course sequence (with CHM243H5) required in the Chemistry major and specialist programs.
CHM243H5: Introductory Organic Chemistry II
The chemistry of benzene, alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, carboxylic acid, esters, acid chlorides, amides and amines will be covered. As well, electrophilic aromatic substitution, protection and deprotection of alcohols, nucleophilic acyl substitution, nucleophilic addition, carbonyl alpha-substitution reaction, keto-enol tautomerism, carbonyl condensation and amines will be introduced. The emphasis will be on organic mechanisms and application of organic reactions to multistep synthesis. Continues from CHM242H5.
CHM299Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This courses provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their second year to work in the research project of a professor in return for 299Y course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. This course does not count as one of the requirements in the Chemistry Minor, Chemistry Major, Chemistry Specialist or Biological Chemistry Specialist programs. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
CHM311H5: Instrumental Analytical Chemistry
Introduction to the basic theory and practice underlying important techniques in analytical chemistry, chosen from three major areas of instrumental analysis: spectroscopy, electrochemistry and separation science. Specific topics will include fluorescence spectroscopy, atomic spectroscopy, x-ray fluorescence, voltammetry, high resolution gas and liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry, and a brief introduction to computer applications, including Fourier transform methods. A problem-based approach will be used to explore these methods in a wide variety of practical applications, which will include individualized student assignments.
CHM323H5: Introduction to Computational Chemistry
This course covers the foundations of computational chemistry with a focus on practical applications and does not require a background in programming or quantum mechanics. An array of methods for predicting the structural, electronic, thermodynamic, and spectroscopic properties of chemical species will be addressed, as well as how the calculated results can complement experimental observations. Relevant fundamental theories to computational chemistry will be covered on a need-to-know basis. Students will follow an individualized study path and select the chemical systems to which each method will be applied.
CHM331H5: Inorganic Chemistry II: Advanced Inorganic Chemistry
Chemistry of metallic elements. Organometallics. Main group and transition elements. Rings, cages and clusters. Lanthanides and Actinides. Applications of IR, UV-VIS and multinuclear NMR spectroscopy. Symmetry. Inorganic synthesis. Non-aqueous solvents. Structure and bonding. Catalysis and industrial processes.
CHM333H5: Bioinorganic Chemistry
Principles of inorganic chemical reactions and their application to biochemical systems: kinetics, mechanisms and thermodynamics of ligand exchange, acid-base and redox reactions involving metalloproteins and their model compounds; mechanisms of catalysis by metalloenzymes and their model compounds; metal ion related diseases; metals in chemotherapy.
CHM341H5: Organic Chemistry: Mechanism and Structure
Stereochemistry and conformational analysis; mechanisms of important types of organic reaction; pericyclic reactions; reactive intermediates.
CHM345H5: Organic Synthesis
Methods used for forming carbon-carbon bonds will be reviewed, including reactions of the various types of nucleophilic carbon and the use of organometallic reagents. Other topics include functional group interconversions, oxidation and reduction and the role of elements such as boron, silicon and tin in organic synthesis.
CHM347H5: Organic Chemistry of Biological Compounds
The chemistry of selected classes of naturally occurring molecules such as those below, with emphasis on structure, stereochemistry, properties and synthesis. Amino acids, peptides, proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, nucleosides, nucleotides, and nucleic acids.
CHM361H5: Structural Biochemistry
An introduction to the molecular anatomy and properties of the major cellular biomolecules: proteins, nucleic acids, carbohydrates and lipids. The course also covers the structural organization of membranes and other macromolecular complexes. Enzyme mechanisms and membrane transport phenomena will be examined in the context of quantitative analyses these processes and of structure/function relationships. Lectures will focus on explaining concepts, with example practice problems. Tutorials will provide students with review of lecture material and the opportunity to work through questions from the text book and other sources.
CHM362H5: Metabolism and Bioenergetics
Basic principles of biological energetics. Metabolic pathways for carbohydrate and lipid synthesis and degradation. Survey of amino acid and nucleotide metabolism. Integration and cellular regulation of metabolism. Intracellular signal transduction mechanisms. Lectures will focus on explaining concepts, with example practice problems. Tutorials will provide students with review of lecture material and the opportunity to work through questions from the text book and other sources.
CHM372H5: Techniques in Biological Chemistry I
The first in a sequence of two laboratory courses intended to complement CHM361H5 and CHM362H5. Experiments are designed to familiarize students with techniques commonly used to study the chemical and physical properties of biological molecules. Topics covered in the first half also include a wide range of chromatographic and/or fractionation methods to separate proteins and/or subcellular organelles, enzyme kinetics, electrophoresis to study proteins and their complexes. The theoretical basis for each experiment will be covered in a 1-hour lecture each week.
CHM373H5: Techniques in Biological Chemistry II
The second in a sequence of two laboratory courses intended to complement CHM361H5 and CHM362H5. CHM373H5 carries on from CHM372H5 with a particular emphasis on protein purification, enzyme kinetics and protein characterization (e.g., kinetics, reactions, binding, depending on the protein studied). Techniques covered include classic biochemical techniques used in studying proteins and protein complexes, such as chromatography and fluorescence methods. The theoretical basis for each experiment will be covered in a 1-hour lecture each week.
CHM394H5: Chemical Synthesis Laboratory I
The first in a sequence of two laboratory courses in synthetic chemistry. This laboratory course comprises the synthesis of inorganic and organic compounds supplemented by physical measurements (e.g., ir, uv, 1H NMR spectra, magnetic susceptibility, etc.) of the products where appropriate. Approximately six weeks each will be spent on two groups of foundational experiments, one in organic and one in inorganic synthesis to illustrate techniques of chemical synthesis. The central role of the carbonyl group in organic synthesis is elaborated, an organic unknown is identified both chemically and spectroscopically and the synthetic chemistry of the first row transition elements is explored.
CHM395H5: Chemical Synthesis Laboratory II
The second in a sequence of two laboratory courses in synthetic chemistry that builds on the foundations established in CHM394H5. Students choose their own experiments in this course from offerings comprising the synthesis of organic, organometallic and inorganic compounds. Techniques such as working at low temperatures and in inert atmospheres (e.g., glove box) are introduced. Depending on the experiments actually chosen, a mixed organic unknown is separated and identified, organic rearrangements and the synthetic chemistry of elements from across the Periodic Table including main group, transition elements and lanthanides are explored. A highlight is an optional four week independent synthesis project in any area of synthetic chemistry adapting procedures from the published, including recent, research literature.
CHM396H5: Analytical and Physical Chemistry Instrumentation Laboratory I
This analytical and physical chemistry laboratory course represents an integration of the study of fundamental physical chemistry with wide-ranging applications to instrumental methods of analysis, such as separation science, electrochemistry and spectroscopy. The course will provide a solid hands-on grounding in many of the major topics covered in analytical and physical chemistry, and the optimization of instrumental analytical measurements by the application of physical principles. Students select from a variety of instruments to customize their program, and develop their own analytical methods to address analytical problems of interest to the student.
CHM397H5: Analytical and Physical Chemistry Instrumentation Laboratory II
This analytical and physical chemistry laboratory course carries on from CHM396 to introduce more advanced topics in instrumental methods of analysis and physical chemistry concepts. The course will include experimental modules focused on instrument design and computer interfacing, molecular spectroscopy (e.g. fluorescence, infrared and Raman, and NMR), plasmon resonance methods for biomolecule determinations and kinetic analysis, microfluidics and lab-on-a-chip technologies. The course will provide practical experience in the optimization of instrumental analytical measurements, experiment design, and topics of relevance to research in analytical and physical chemistry.
CHM399Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides third-year undergraduate students (after completion of 8.0 credits) who have developed some knowledge of Chemistry and its research methods, an opportunity to work in the research project of a professor in return for course credit. Students enrolled have the opportunity to become involved in original research, enhance their research skills and share in the excitement of acquiring new knowledge and in the discovery process of science. This course does not count as one of the requirements in the Chemistry Minor program. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
CHM412H5: Sensors, Sequencers, and Diagnostic Technologies
An exploration of biomolecule analysis methodologies, with an emphasis on nucleic acid analysis, will be done from the perspective of the Analytical Biochemist. The course will begin with brief reviews of the structure and function of biomolecules, solid-phase synthesis, extraction, pre-concentration and amplification methods. This will be followed by an exploration of established and emerging techniques for target biomolecule determinations, including: bioprobes, microarrays, biosensors and DNA sequencing technologies (including single molecule approaches). Current examples of implementation in the fields of proteomics and genomics will be discussed throughout the course, with an emphasis on life sciences and diagnostic testing applications. Course work will include independent literature reviews and student presentations.
CHM414H5: Advanced Topics in Analytical Chemistry
An overview of both recent and fundamental developments of instrumentation that are revolutionizing the field of analytical chemistry, with an emphasis on applications in biological chemistry and biotechnology. Topics will include a survey of advanced analytical techniques, including specialized mass spectrometry techniques, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Auger electron spectroscopy, Electron Microscopy, Surface Enhanced Raman spectroscopy, Localized surface plasmon resonance, total internal reflection fluorescence methods; chemometrics, and other state-of-the-art analytical methods. Course work will include independent review of peer-reviewed literature, scientific writing, and student oral presentations
CHM416H5: Separations, Chromatography and Microfluidics
Separation science will be explored by building on a survey of fundamental physical principles to understand processes of extraction, and technologies such as solid phase microextraction, supercritical fluid extraction, immunoaffinity extraction and molecularly imprinted polymers. Plate and rate theory will be developed to consider various forms of gas and liquid chromatographic methods, including hyphenated techniques that bridge to information detectors such as mass spectrometers. New opportunities for chromatography and separations by movement to small scale size will be considered by focusing on microfluidics, electro-osmotic flow and chip based microdevice applications. Applications examples will focus on problems in life sciences, forensics and environmental chemistry. Course work will include independent literature reviews and student presentations.
CHM436H5: Metal-based Chemistry for Synthesis of Small Molecules and Functional Materials
Modern metal-mediated (inorganic) reactions useful in organic synthesis. Applications of advanced organometallic chemistry. Selected solid-state compounds: metal-organic frameworks, nanoparticles and related materials for separation, catalysis, diagnostics.
CHM442H5: Strategy & Control in Modern Drug Synthesis
Applications of advanced fundamentals to, and recent developments in, multi-step organic synthesis.
CHM444H5: An Introduction to Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Recognition
An introduction to drug discovery, design and development. This course will focus on the potential of proteins (enzymes, receptors, receptor structure and signal transduction) as targets for molecular therapeutic intervention. The strategies of finding a drug target, optimizing target interactions and synthetic molecular therapeutic development will all be considered and discussed. The modern technologies of targeting protein-protein interactions will also be covered.
CHM462H5: Revealing the Chemistry behind Biomolecules
Discussion course based on published research in biological chemistry and applications of chemistry to study processes of biological significance.
CHM485H5: Dissertation Based on Literature Research
A dissertation will be written based on literature research of a topic of current interest in the field of chemistry. The research will be conducted under the supervision of a chemistry faculty member other than the student's CPS489Y5 supervisor. The research topic must not overlap that of the student's CPS489Y5 project. The goals of this course are to achieve literature research expertise as well as in-depth knowledge of a particular chemistry topic, while perfecting scientific writing and oral presentation skills. Evaluation is based on a final written report describing the aims and results of the research, as well as an oral presentation of the work. The course is normally taken in the student's fourth year, in either the Fall or Winter terms, but may be taken in the Summer term. Enrolment in CHM485H5 requires submitting an application to the department before the end of the term prior to that in which it is intended to undertake the research. Independent Studies Application Forms may be found at http://uoft.me/cpsforms. Applications should be submitted to the CPS Undergraduate Assistant. Registration on ACORN is also required. Students are encouraged to consult with, and obtain the consent of, prospective supervisors before applying for enrolment.
CHM489Y5: Introduction to Research in Chemistry
An experimental or theoretical research topic in chemistry will be investigated under the supervision of a chemistry faculty member other than the student's CHM485H5 supervisor. The research topic must not overlap that of the student's CHM485H5 research topic. In addition to learning to plan, conduct and evaluate a research program, students will receive training in written and oral presentation skills. Evaluation is based on interim and final written reports describing the aims and results of the research, as well as interim and final oral presentations of the work. The course is normally taken in the student's fourth year. Enrolment in CHM489Y5 requires submitting an application to the department in the spring term, with the application due date being the final day of classes. Independent Studies Application Forms may be found at http://uoft.me/cpsforms. Applications should be submitted to the CPS Undergraduate Assistant. Registration on ACORN is also required. Acceptance into the course is dependent on the student having achieved a satisfactory GPA, and reaching agreement with a potential supervisor. Students must consult with prospective supervisors before applying for enrolment, and must list at least two faculty members as possible supervisors. This course is restricted to students in the Chemistry Major, Biological Chemistry Specialist, and Chemistry Specialist Programs.
CIN101H5: An Introduction to Cinema Studies
Introduction to film analysis, concepts of film style and narrative. Topics include documentary, avant-garde, genres, authorship, ideology, and representation.
CIN102H5: Modernity and the Moving Image
Looking at a few periods of intense technological change—for example, with the invention of photography, and the introduction of sound, of colour, of television—we will consider the ways in which artists, filmmakers, studios, and media conglomerates have responded to such changes and to accompanying ideas about the role that moving technology plays in our conception of history and the future.
CIN203H5: The Films of Alfred Hitchcock
The establishment of film as a serious art form is coincident with the earliest critical writing on Alfred Hitchcock that emerged in the 1950s. Since then, Hitchcock has remained one of the most important filmmakers of all time, spawning not only a massive body of critical scholarship but also legions of imitators. This course will serve as an introduction to both the films (such as Psycho and North by Northwest) and related issues: questions of suspense, authorship, morality, and spectatorship.
CIN204H5: The Films of Martin Scorsese
This course will examine the films of Martin Scorsese, one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. Scorsese's films will be understood in relation to questions about imitation and originality, genre, violence, male hysteria, and also as meditations on the history of film itself.
CIN205H5: Canadian Auteurs
This course will offer a comparative study of a selection of major contemporary Canadian filmmakers, including Denys Arcand, Atom Egoyan, David Cronenberg, Sara Polley, Denis Villeneuve, Ruba Nadda, Denis Côté, Guy Maddin, Michael Snow, and Joyce Wieland.
CIN206H5: Auteurs
This course will look closely at the work of a single director. Emphasis will be given to the aesthetic, historical, cultural, and philosophical contexts that inform the director's work. We will also tend closely to the style and central preoccupations of the director under examination.
CIN207H5: East Asian Cinema
This course is an introduction to East Asian cinema from the 1960s to the present, including films from Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Japan, and Korea. With an emphasis on formal aesthetic analysis of short and feature-length films, we will examine film waves, genres, film festivals, and interconnected film industries. Throughout the course, we will consider not only the production, exhibition, and reception spaces of East Asian cinema but also critically examine its definitions and borders.
CIN208H5: The Films of Abbas Kiarostami: Being and Movement
This course will survey the work of the Iranian filmmaker, Abbas Kiarostami, and will do so with an especial interest in the way that Kiarostami’s films raise important questions about tradition, judgment, and the fluidity of self and world.
CIN210H5: Contemporary Southeast Asian Cinemas
This course is an introduction to contemporary Southeast Asian cinemas from the 2000s to the present. Since the turn of the millennium, the cinematic innovation of Southeast Asia has been aided by an increase in productive interaction and transnational modes of collaborations and co-productions. These waves of cinema augur new possibilities for considering cross-cultural, cross-boundary ways of being, seeing and knowing that can challenge formulaic and essentialist understandings of the region. Through formal aesthetic analysis of short and feature-length films, and the study of Asia-based and international institutions of cinema, we will examine the multifarious potential of contemporary Southeast Asian in spurring the rethinking of the histories, concepts, and borders of the region.
CIN215H5: Bollywood in Context
India has arguably the most popular and prolific film industry in the world. This course contextualizes the relatively recent 'Bollywood' phenomenon within the history of Indian commercial cinema and key aspects of modern Indian culture, emphasizing the popular cinema's role in constructing historically changing ideas of national and gendered identity. It also challenges the assumptions of film theories developed in relation to Hollywood or European cinema by introducing film theory concepts that address South Asian image-cultures (such as darshan, frontality, melodrama, and interruption).
CIN250H5: Introduction to the Fundamentals of Cinematic Language
This hands-on studio-based course will examine fundamentals of cinematic language and production. Students will work individually and in teams to create a series of works that focus on aesthetics and skill development.
CIN290H5: Topics in Cinema Studies
The course may have a historical, genre, theoretical, auteur, or other focus. See the Department of Visual Studies website at www.utm.utoronto.ca/dvs for the current topic.
CIN301H5: Topics in Cinema Studies
The course may have a historical, genre, theoretical, auteur, or other focus. Students should contact the program director for the current topic.
CIN302H5: Topics in Cinema Studies
The course may have a historical, genre, theoretical, auteur, or other focus. Students should contact the program director for the current topic.
CIN303H5: Global Auteurs
This course is devoted to three major international filmmakers: Michael Haneke (Austria), Olivier Assayas (France), and Hou Hsiao-Hsien (Taiwan). While different in many important respects, these filmmakers are nevertheless linked by their tendency to make international films that are themselves meditations on national identity in an increasingly globalized world. Screenings will include Caché, Code Unknown, Carlos, Demonlover, The Flight of the Red Balloon, and Goodbye South, Goodbye, to name just a few.
CIN304H5: The Violent Image
It is commonly believed that violent images produce violent, or desensitized people. In this class, we will examine the multiple forms of violence in film, television, and videogames as well as the variety of discourses about violence and images. Rather than confirming the moral logic of condemnation of the violent image, we will ask instead what good a violent image might do.
CIN305H5: Taiwan New Wave in Our Time
The film In Our Time (1982), which combined short works by four directors (Edward Yang, Jim Tao, Ke Yizheng, and Zhang Yi), is regarded as the beginning of Taiwan New Cinema, generally considered to have ended in the late 1980s. Figures such as Hou Hsiao Hsien, Wang Tung, Chu Tien-wen, Wu Nien-Jen, Hung Hung, Hsiao Yeh, Tsai Chin, and Sylvia Chang played key roles, as directors, screenwriters, producers, and/or actors. From examining films within the era to their impact on contemporary global cinema, this course asks: how may a film be transnationally and transgenerationally re-animated for shifting eras and constellations of viewers? This course speculates that the time of the Taiwan New Wave is still beckoning, even from beyond the contested shores of Taiwan.
CIN306H5: The Comedic Image
Comedies routinely depend on the performance of the unthinkable in the ordinary. Our laughter follows from the saying or doing of the unsayable and the undoable. Comedy is in this way both a form of bad manners and also a uniquely philosophical genre, insofar as saying the unsayable means that we are able to recognize more than what we see or typically say. This course will survey the history of comedy and its relation to thought, perception, and social values.
CIN307H5: Movement
Since the advent of cinema, filmmakers and film theorists have repeatedly attempted to define film as a unique art form on the basis of its most defining characteristic: movement. Painters can represent movement, but film is movement itself. Not surprisingly, many filmmakers who are recognized as significant artists are most easily identified by the distinctive style of their camera movement. This class will be devoted to a consideration of the nature, meaning, and styles of movement in film.
CIN308H5: East and Southeast Asian Cinemas of Migration
Migration, voluntary and involuntary, has intensified in an unprecedented manner in recent history. More than ever, it is critical to examine forms of proximity, hospitality, and regionality. Including films by migrants, films about the migrant experience, and the migratory routes of cinema itself, this course addresses the ethics, politics, and praxis of mobility and displacement. How, through East and Southeast Asian cinemas, could we envision counter-bodies and counter-strategies with which we may collectively imagine and inhabit the world?
CIN309H5: Colour and the Moving image
Considering philosophical, scientific, and historical discourses about colour, this course explores a variety of ways of analyzing colour style in film and video art. As we begin to come to terms with the perceptual instability of colour as a positive phenomenon, we will consider how and why dominant histories of film style have been written, especially as the taming of colour has been central to an ongoing categorical distinction between narrative cinema and the avant-garde, morality and hedonism.
CIN310H5: Melodrama
Film and Televisual melodramas regularly enact a conflict between personal desire and social expectation. This course will cover a range of films and television melodramas and consider the social contexts in which these works emerge, and often as critiques of the very cultures to which they belong or reject. 24L, 36P
CIN315H5: From Script to Screen
This is a screenwriting course where students will be introduced to key narrative tools, scriptwriting conventions and components so they can develop an understanding and appreciation of the process from script to screen. From a comparative analysis of screenplays and completed short and feature films with varying budgets in the global cinema landscape, students will learn to use freely available specialized software to craft their own short film materials, including logline, synopsis, treatment, and screenplay.
CIN317H5: Production: Independent Cinema
What can the title cards and credits of a film tell us about its journey to the screen?
Outside of the studio system model adopted in various countries, there are established pathways and structures for the development, financing, production, sales, distribution and exhibition of independent cinema. This class asks how, from idea to completion, an independent film is able to find funding and reach an international audience. Focusing on the transnational ecosystems that sustain the passage of independent cinema around the world, we will examine case studies of films from Asia, Europe and North America.
CIN399Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their third year or beyond to work on the research project of a professor in Cinema Studies in return for 399Y course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, enhance their research skills, and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter session on the ROP website in mid-February and students are invited to apply at that time. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
CIN400H5: Topics in Cinema Studies
The course may have a historical, genre, theoretical, auteur, or other focus. Students should contact the Department for the current topic. Topic-specific pre-requisites, co-requisites, and exclusions may apply to this course, depending on the topic. Please see the UTM Timetable prior to course registration.
CIN401H5: Topics in Cinema Studies
The course may have a historical, genre, theoretical, auteur, or other focus. Students should contact the Department for the current topic.
CIN402H5: Avant-Garde Film and Video
This course will look at alternative forms of filmmaking and television production. If there is a defining feature of avant-garde film and video, it is a general resistance to the thematic and stylistic norms of mainstream production and popular culture as way of seeing for all. Thus, in this course, we will be looking at both highly personal and sometimes autobiographical works of art.
CIN403H5: Queerscapes, Screenscapes, Escapes: Gender and Sexuality Across East and Southeast Asian Cinemas
"Queerness is not yet here." José Esteban Muñoz begins Cruising Utopia with the provocation that queerness is a mode of desire that allows for an escape from the conditions of the present. How does queer studies contribute to the building of and the continued hope for a more just world? Through cinema, theory, and philosophy, this course makes the claim that investigating queerness in the world marks a critical move away from restrictive modes of identification and holds open life's horizons of possibility. Course texts emphasize queer cinemas of Asia and their transnational connections.
CIN404H5: Film Noir and the Problem of Style
By way of an introduction to some of the key instances of film noir, this course is concerned with what we will call the paradox of style; namely, that style can indicate both what is specific and also what is general, what is unique and what is repeatable. We will look at the way in which this paradox is amplified by issues of gender, genre, fashion, and power that seem to concern so many films in this tradition.
CIN405H5: Cinema and Emotion
This interdisciplinary course looks at such difficult emotions as shame, jealousy, forgiveness, and love, and how film complicates our understanding of them.
CIN408H5: Potential Cinema: Theories, Visions, and Practices of Decoloniality from East and Southeast Asia
Inspired by Ariella Aïsha Azoulay's Potential History: Unlearning Imperialism, this course investigates films from East and Southeast Asia and considers the ways in which we might recognize theories, visions, and practices that might constitute "cinemas of decoloniality." In this course, we will look to filmmakers' aesthetic engagement with archival and imagined time and the collision of pasts, presents, and futures in order to consider how contentious histories of memory and forgetting can have effects on the politics of the present. How, through and with cinema, could there be space not only to retell and reframe histories of coloniality and decolonization but also to experience and practice the potential decolonization of ways of being, seeing, and thinking?
CIN410H5: Creating Mobile Cinemas
This class will introduce students to low-budget aesthetic approaches to cinema across fiction and documentary genres. The class will involve a hybrid of cinema research and creation. During the first half of the semester, we will study a selection of feature-length works and shorts. The second half of the semester will be dedicated towards students creating 10-15 minute pieces of their own inspired by what they have studied.
CIN430H5: Making a Short Film
This is a production course that introduces students to the four stages of filmmaking: development, production, post production, and release. Through learning the practical aspects of filmmaking such as scriptwriting, budgeting, key crew positions, basic technical proficiency of equipment, and understanding the film festival circuit and online platform, students will make a 5-10 minute fiction short film. Equipment and funds will not be provided but students will be able to complete the assignments on a smartphone with recommendation of free video editing software.
CLA101H5: Introduction to Classical Civilization
An introduction to ancient Greco-Roman civilization that highlights some of the most salient artistic, cultural, historical, and social achievements of these two societies.
CLA201H5: Latin and Greek in Scientific Terminology
The study of technical and scientific terms derived from Latin and Greek: word elements, formation, analysis. The course is designed to give students in any field of specialization a better grasp of the derivation and basic meaning of English words formed from Latin and Greek elements.
CLA204H5: Introduction to Classical Mythology
A survey of the myths and legends of the ancient Greek and Roman Mediterranean world in ancient art and literature. Consideration may also be given to their reception in modern art and literature and some modern theories of myth.
CLA207H5: Introduction to Greek and Roman Literature
This course provides an introduction to Greek and Roman literature. Detailed interpretations of key works from a variety of genres are complemented by discussions of more general issues like literacy levels, orality, literary rhetoric, performance contexts and intertextuality.
CLA220H5: Introduction to Greek and Roman Archaeology
This course introduces students to archaeology in the ancient Mediterranean, covering key archaeological methods and material from the Greek Bronze Age through the Roman Empire. Students develop essential skills to recognize and analyze ancient material culture.
CLA230H5: Introduction to Greek History
An introduction to the diverse history of the Greek world, tracing mainly political but also social developments from the Bronze Age of the mid-second millennium BCE to the first century CE.
CLA231H5: Introduction to Roman History
An introduction to the history of Rome, focusing mainly on its political and military history but also tracing the most salient social and cultural developments, from its inconspicuous beginnings in the eighth century BCE to Rome's Mediterranean Empire in the imperial period and its dissolution in the sixth century CE.
CLA233H5: Introduction to Roman Culture & Society
An introduction to the cultural and social history of ancient Rome and those living in the Roman world. Topics may vary from year to year but include daily life and demography, the Roman family, gender and sexuality, the Roman political system and the army, religion, Roman entertainments (the circus, gladiatorial games, the theatre), and Latin literature.
CLA234H5: Ancient Science and Technology
A general introduction to early technology, its achievements and limitations, the origins and development of ancient science, including ancient medicine, and their interaction with philosophy.
CLA237H5: Introduction to Greek Culture & Society
An introduction to the society and culture of the ancient Greek world and those who were in contact with it. Topics may vary from year to year but include daily life and demography, social customs, gender and sexuality, literature, art, as well as religion and religious festivals (such as processions, theatrical performances and athletic competitions such as the Olympic Games).
CLA299Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their second year to work in the research project of a professor in return for 299Y course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early February. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
CLA300H5: Greek Tragedy and Comedy
Greek drama from the origins of tragedy in the sixth century B.C. to New Comedy, with close study of selected plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, and Menander, and attention to Aristotle's Poetics.
CLA301H5: Greek Epic
The Iliad and the Odyssey, with comparative study of related texts.
CLA302H5: Roman Epic
The Aeneid of Virgil and/or other Roman epics with comparative study of related texts.
CLA303H5: The Ancient Novel
The human and social climate in which prose fiction arose; the Greek romances of love and adventure (Heliodorus, Longus, Chariton), and the more ironical and socially conscious works of the Roman writers (Petronius, The Satyricon, and Apuleius, The Golden Ass).
CLA307H5: Greek and Roman Lyric Poetry
This course discusses Greek and Roman lyric poetry in its wider literary, cultural and political contexts. Poets who will be discussed include, among others, Sappho, Theocritus, Catullus and Horace. Some of the poems featured in this course belong to the best and most beautiful literature written in Graeco-Roman antiquity.
CLA308H5: Religion in the Ancient Greek World
A study of the religious cults and forms of worship current in the ancient Greek world. The course will consider religion in the ancient Greek city-states, but attention will also be paid to the so-called 'mystery religions', Greek beliefs about the afterlife, and intellectual reflection on religion in Greek literature.
CLA310H5: Religion in the Roman Empire
A close study of the religious cults and forms of worship current in the Roman Empire during the first four centuries C.E. The course will concentrate on the so-called 'pagan' cults, but their interaction with Jews and the early Christians, as well as the rise of Christianity, will also be considered. Attention will also be paid to the imperial cult ("emperor worship"); the so-called 'mystery religions' and 'oriental religions'; the diversity of local religion across the empire; oracles, private religiosity and intellectual reflection on religion in the ancient Greek and Roman writers.
CLA319H5: Women, Gender and Sexuality in Antiquity
A study of gender in the ancient Mediterranean, with a focus on female and male sexuality and socialization; their economic, religious, and political roles; and aspects of daily life.
CLA320H5: The Etruscans
A close study of the history, culture, society, religion, art and archaeology of the Etruscans (1000–100 BCE) and of their contacts with Greek and Roman society and culture.
CLA337H5: Pompeii and Herculaneum: Everyday Life and Death in Roman Cities
Focusing on Roman Pompeii and Herculaneum, this course studies the experiences of townspeople: the freeborn (male and female), freed persons, and slaves; the demography of a Roman town and its public infrastructure; the interior design of Roman houses; local politics; leisure activities; economy; and religious beliefs and funerary practices.
CLA350H5: The Trojan War: Archaeology and Myth
This course studies the unique place Troy and the Trojan War hold in Greek and Roman literary and historical imagination, archaeology, mythology, and art. The course also considers the afterlife of the Trojan War in post-Classical European culture, and its reception in modern film and fiction.
CLA355H5: Greek Sanctuaries: Archaeology and Ritual
This course explores the development and function of Greek sanctuaries, paying special attention to the archaeological evidence and the roles of sanctuaries in society. It studies major sanctuaries and their festivals and rituals (Delphi, Olympia, Athenian Acropolis, Eleusis, Samos, Ephesos), but also considers smaller sites in the Greek world.
CLA359H5: The Persian Empire: 559-331 BCE
This course offers an examination of the history and culture of the first multicultural superstate of the ancient world, the Achaemenid Empire. Through a close analysis of ancient sources, this course not only investigates governmental structures but also the daily life in the Eastern Mediterranean from the sixth to the fourth centuries BCE.
CLA360H5: Early Greece
This course offers an exploration into the early Greek world, tracing political, economical, and social developments from a world of local rulers in the second millennium BCE until the Persian Wars in the early fifth century BCE. An in-depth study of the many forms of available ancient sources will create a vivid picture of early Greek communities, of state organization, and society.
CLA361H5: Classical Greece
A close study of the Greek Mediterranean world during the period, which already in antiquity, was described as 'Classical'. Through an in-depth study of ancient sources, this course explores the political, economic, social, religious and cultural developments of the Greek states in the time period from the Persian Wars in the early 5th century to the rise of Macedon in the second half of the fourth century BCE.
CLA362H5: Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic World
This course offers an in-depth study of the Hellenistic World from the reign of Alexander the Great in the fourth century BCE to a Greek world under Roman dominance in the first century CE, spanning geographically from the Mediterranean basin via the Levant and Mesopotamia to modern-day Afghanistan. A close examination of different types of ancient sources will trace the political, cultural, economic and social developments of kings, regions and cities that shaped this period.
CLA365H5: Trade in the Ancient Mediterranean
This course explores questions of trade and exchange in the ancient Mediterranean. A close study of ancient primary material examines aspects of the ancient economy, trade goods, ships and shipwrecks, ports and harbours, and cross-cultural interaction.
CLA367H5: The Roman Republic
A survey of the salient political, constitutional, social, economic, military, religious, and cultural developments in the Roman Republic, from the late sixth century to the final decades of the first century BC.
CLA368H5: Augustus and the Julio-Claudians
A survey of the salient political, constitutional, social, economic, military, religious and cultural developments in the Roman Empire in the age of Augustus and during the reigns of the Julio-Claudian emperors (ca. 44 BCE- 68CE).
CLA369H5: The High Roman Empire, 68-305 CE
A survey of the salient political, constitutional, social, economic, military, religious and cultural developments in the Roman Empire, from the 'year of the four emperors' (68 CE) to the fourth century CE.
CLA370H5: Late Antiquity
A survey of the salient political, constitutional, social, economic, military, religious and cultural developments in the Roman Empire from the fourth century to the age of Justinian.
CLA390H5: Topics in Greek History & Culture
A detailed study of a topic of Greek history, literature, or material culture. Topics will vary from year to year. Visit the Departmental web site at Classical Civilization for further information.
CLA391H5: Topics in Roman History & Culture
A detailed study of a topic of Roman history, literature, or material culture. Topics will vary from year to year. Visit the Departmental web site at Classical Civilization for further information.
CLA395H5: Topics in Classics
An in-depth examination of historical issues. Content in any given year depends on instructor. Visit the Departmental web site at Classical Civilization for further information.
CLA396H5: The Ancient Mediterranean in Context
An in-depth examination of the historical issues and their relationships with specific regions in the ancient world and their monuments. Content in any given year depends on instructor. As part of this course, students will have the option of participating in an international learning experience that will have an additional cost and application process. See the Department of Historical Studies website at https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/historical-studies/undergraduate-programs/classical-civilization/classical-civilization-topic-courses for more details.
CLA399Y5: Research Opportunity Program
For senior undergraduate students who have developed some knowledge of a discipline and its research methods, this course offers an opportunity to work on the research project of a professor. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, develop their research skills and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Project descriptions for the following fall-winter session are posted on the ROP website in mid-February and students are invited to apply at that time. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
CLA404H5: Advanced Topics in Classics
A critical exploration of selected topics of Greek or Roman history, literature, philosophy, or material culture. Topic will vary from year to year. Visit the Departmental web site at Classical Civilization for further information.
CLA497Y5: Independent Reading
Student-initiated project of reading and research, supervised by a member of the Department. Primarily intended for students in a Major program. After obtaining a supervisor, a student must apply to the Department of Historical Studies. A maximum of 1.0 credit in a reading course is permitted.
CLA499H5: Independent Reading
Student-initiated project of reading and research, supervised by a member of the Department. Primarily intended for Majors. After obtaining a supervisor, a student must apply to the Department of Historical Studies. A maximum of two reading courses, amounting to 1.0 credit, is permitted.
CLA499Y5: Research Opportunity Program
For senior undergraduate students who have developed some knowledge of a discipline and its research methods, this course offers an opportunity to work on the research project of a professor. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, develop their research skills and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Project descriptions for the following fall-winter session are posted on the ROP website in mid-February and students are invited to apply at that time. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
CPS398H5: Teaching Opportunity Program in Sciences
A scholarly, active learning project in which students integrate and apply their understanding of science and pedagogy by observing, actively participating in, and reflecting on the teaching and learning process under the supervision of an experienced instructor/mentor. This course may be taken in either the Summer, Fall or Winter terms. Enrolment requires submitting an application to the department before the end of the term prior to that in which it is intended to undertake the research. Independent Studies Application Forms may be found at http://uoft.me/cpsforms. Students should plan for the course in March of the previous academic year and register as soon as their registration period begins. Students are encouraged to consult with, and obtain the consent of, prospective supervisors before applying for enrolment. Enrolment will depend on the availability of positions.
CPS400Y5: Chemical and Physical Sciences Internship
This internship opportunity will allow students to apply theoretical and practical skills acquired during their undergraduate education in order to gain vital industry experience. Students will be trained in effective job searching skills (writing a CV and a Cover Letter, participating in job interviews) and will gain valuable experiences that are sought after by employers in both public and private sectors. Students will be placed with various employers in the GTA based on their interest and skill set, and on the employer needs and availability. The placement is a 200 h unpaid internship. The Course Coordinator/Instructor(s) will schedule biweekly meetings to discuss the setup and progress of the student projects. Student attendance is mandatory. At the end of the term, students must submit a written report and prepare an oral presentation about the outcomes of their work experience. In order to be considered for the internship, students must apply for the course. The Course Coordinator will approve enrolment in the course based on the number of internship opportunities available, which will vary from year-to-year, and student qualifications (e.g. GPA, experience, qualifications related to the requirements of the available placement(s), and interview performance).
CPS401Y5: Research and Development in Science Education
This course is intended for students in a CPS or Environmental Science Major or Specialist program. It provides an experiential learning opportunity with secondary school students and teachers. Students will research the literature of science pedagogy and acquire pedagogical content knowledge, particularly that of problem-based learning and the use of case studies. Then, through the creation of original, problem-based learning materials for Grades 11 and 12 classes and the preparation of teachers’ notes for these materials, they will enhance their subject specialization knowledge. They will then assist a teacher in implementing their materials in a school or, where the materials involve experiments, in the field or in the UTM teaching laboratories. The course is normally taken in the student's fourth year. Enrollment requires submitting an application to the CPS Department in the spring term, with the application due date being the final day of classes. Independent Studies Application Forms may be found at http://uoft.me/cpsforms. Applications should be submitted to the CPS Undergraduate Assistant. Registration on ACORN is also required.
CPS489Y5: Introduction to Research in the Chemical and Physical Sciences
Students will work toward the completion of an experimental or theoretical research project in an area of study within the chemical and physical sciences, namely, astronomy, chemistry, earth sciences or physics. Projects will be based on current trends in research and students will work to complete their projects with guidance provided by a team of facilitators and faculty advisors consisting of course coordinators and a researcher from the Department of Chemical and Physical Sciences. In addition to the rigorous development of research skills, the course will also provide students with training and practical experience in project management techniques and practical research, literary and communications skills development. CPS489Y5 requires submitting an application to the department Application forms may be found at http://uoft.me/cpsforms. Applications should be submitted to the CPS Undergraduate Assistant.
CSC104H5: The Why and How of Computing
A broad introduction to the field of computer science, intended for non-computer scientists. Topics include: history of computing; digital information representations; computer chip logic design; cryptography; social issues in computing; operating systems; problem solving and algorithms; a challenging programming introduction. This is a rigorous course intended to teach computer science, and will not teach the use of any particular software products. A robust understanding of modern computers and their use is assumed.
CSC108H5: Introduction to Computer Programming
Structure of computers; the computing environment. Programming in a language such as Python. Program structure: elementary data types, statements, control flow, functions, classes, objects, methods, fields. List: searching, sorting and complexity.
CSC110Y5: Foundations of Computer Science 1
An introduction to the field of computer science that combines the tools and techniques of programming (using a modern programming language) with rigorous mathematical analysis and reasoning. Topics include data representations; program control flow (conditionals, loops, exceptions, functions); mathematical logic and formal proofs; algorithms and run-time analysis; and software engineering principles (formal specification and design, testing and verification). Prior programming experience is not required to succeed in this course.
CSC111H5: Foundations of Computer Science 2
A continuation of CSC110Y5 that extends principles of programming and mathematical analysis to further topics in computer science. Topics include object-oriented programming (design principles, encapsulation, composition, and inheritance); binary representation of numbers; recursion and mathematical induction; abstract data types and data structures (stacks, queues, linked lists, trees, graphs); and the limitations of computation.
CSC148H5: Introduction to Computer Science
Abstract data types and data structures for implementing them. Linked data structures. Encapsulation and information-hiding. Object-oriented programming. Specifications. Analyzing the efficiency of programs. Recursion. This course assumes programming experience in a language such as Python, C++, or Java, as provided by CSC108H5.
CSC199H5: Computer Science Seminar
Introduction to a topic of current interest in computer science intended for a general audience. Content will vary from year to year.
CSC207H5: Software Design
An introduction to software design and development concepts, methods, and tools using a statically-typed object-oriented programming language such as Java. Topics from: version control, build management, unit testing, refactoring, object-oriented design and development, design patterns, advanced IDE usage, regular expressions, and reflection. Representation of floating-point numbers and introduction to numerical computation.
CSC209H5: Software Tools and Systems Programming
Software tools and development in a Unix/Linux environment, using a machine-oriented programming language (typically C). Core topics: software tools (shell utilities and make), processes and program execution, the memory model, system calls, file processing, interprocess communication (pipes and signals), and an introduction to concurrency, including multithreading.
CSC236H5: Introduction to the Theory of Computation
Mathematical induction; correctness proofs for iterative and recursive algorithms; recurrence equations and their solutions (including the "Master Theorem"); introduction to automata and formal languages.
CSC258H5: Computer Organization
An introduction to computer organization and architecture, using a common CPU architecture. Core topics: data representations and computer arithmetic, processor organization, the memory hierarchy and caching, instruction set and addressing modes, and quantitative performance evaluation of computing systems. Students will program in assembly and will evaluate simulated processor architectures.
CSC263H5: Data Structures and Analysis
Algorithm analysis: worst-case, average-case, and amortized complexity. Standard abstract data types, such as graphs, dictionaries, priority queues and disjoint sets. A variety of data structures for implementing these abstract data types, such as balanced search trees, hashing, heaps and disjoint forests. Design, implementation and comparison of data structures. Introduction to lower bounds.
CSC290H5: Communication Skills for Computer Scientists
Targeted instruction and significant practice in the communications required for careers in computer science. The curriculum covers written, oral and interpersonal communication. Students will hand in short pieces of writing each week, will make oral presentations several times in the semester, and will work together in simulated project meetings and other realistic scenarios of pair and small group interaction. This can be used to satisfy the writing requirement in CSC programs.
CSC299H5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their second year to work in the research project of a professor in return for 299H course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Research Opportunity Program (ROP) for more details.
CSC299Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their second year to work in the research project of a professor in return for 299Y course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Research Opportunity Program (ROP) for more details.
CSC300H5: Computers and Society
Privacy and Freedom of Information; recent Canadian legislation and reports. Computers and work; employment levels, quality of working life. Electronic fund transfer systems; transborder data flows. Computers and bureaucratization. Computers in the home; public awareness about computers. Robotics. Professionalism and the ethics of computers. The course is designed not only for science students, but also those in social sciences or humanities.
CSC301H5: Introduction to Software Engineering
An introduction to agile development methods appropriate for medium-sized teams and rapidly-moving projects. Basic software development infrastructure; requirements elicitation and tracking; estimation and prioritization; teamwork skills; basic UML; design patterns and refactoring; security.
CSC309H5: Programming on the Web
An introduction to software development on the web. Concepts underlying the development of programs that operate on the web; survey of technological alternatives; greater depth on some technologies. Operational concepts of the internet and the web, static client content, dynamic client content, dynamically served content, n-tiered architectures, web development processes, and security on the web. Assignments involve increasingly more complex web-based programs.
CSC310H5: Information Theory
An introduction to reliable and accurate transmission of information. Entropy, lossless and lossy data compression, optimal compression, information channels, channel capacity, error-correcting codes, and digital fountain codes. Course concepts form the basis for practical applications such as ZIP and MP3 compression, channel coding for DSL lines, communication in deep space and to mobile devices, CDs and disk drives, the development of the Internet, as well as linguistics and human perception.
CSC311H5: Introduction to Machine Learning
An introduction to methods for automated learning of relationships on the basis of empirical data. Classification and regression using nearest neighbour methods, decision trees, linear models, and neural networks. Clustering algorithms. Problems of overfitting and of assessing accuracy.
CSC318H5: The Design of Interactive Computational Media
User-centered design of interactive systems. Methodologies, principles, metaphors, task analysis, and other topics. Interdisciplinary design; the role of industrial design and the behavioural sciences. Interactive hardware and software; concepts from computer graphics. Classes of direct manipulation systems, extensible systems, rapid prototyping tools. Additional topics in interactive computational media. Students work on projects in interdisciplinary teams. Enrolment limited, but non-computer scientists welcome.
CSC322H5: Introduction to Algebraic Cryptography
(Cross list with MAT302H5) The course will take students on a journey through the methods of algebra and number theory in cryptography, from Euclid to Zero Knowledge Proofs. Topics include: block ciphers and the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES); algebraic and number-theoretic techniques and algorithms in cryptography, including methods for primality testing and factoring large numbers; encryption and digital signature systems based on RSA, factoring, elliptic curves and integer lattices; and zero-knowledge proofs.
CSC324H5: Principles of Programming Languages
Major topics in the development of modern programming languages. Syntax specification, type systems, type inference, exception handling, information hiding, structural recursion, run-time storage management, and programming paradigms. Two non-procedural programming paradigms: functional programming (illustrated by languages such as Lisp, Scheme, ML or Haskell) and logic programming (illustrated by languages such as Prolog, XSB or Coral).
CSC333H5: Forensic Computing
Introduction to the tools and techniques of the digital detective. Electronic discovery of digital data, including field investigation methods of the computer crime scene. Focus on the computer science behind computer forensics, network forensics and data forensics. Forensic topics include: computer structure, data acquisition from storage media, file system analysis, network intrusion detection, electronic evidence, Canadian computer crime case law.
CSC338H5: Numerical Methods
Computational methods for solving numerical problems in science, engineering and business. Linear and non-linear equations, approximation, optimization, interpolation, integration and differentiation. The aim is to give students a basic understanding of floating-point arithmetic and the implementation of algorithms used to solve numerical problems, as well as a familiarity with current numerical computing environments. Course concepts are crucial to a wide range of practical applications such as computational finance and portfolio management, graphics and special effects, data mining and machine learning, as well as robotics, bioinformatics, medical imaging and others.
CSC343H5: Introduction to Databases
Introduction to database management systems. The relational data model. Relational algebra. Querying and updating databases: the query language SQL. Application programming with SQL. Integrity constraints, normal forms, and database design. Elements of database system technology: query processing, transaction management.
CSC347H5: Introduction to Information Security
An investigation of many aspects of modern information security. Major topics cover: Techniques to identify and avoid common software development flaws which leave software vulnerable to crackers. Utilizing modern operating systems security features to deploy software in a protected environment. Common threats to networks and networked computers and tools to deal with them. Cryptography and the role it plays in software development, systems security and network security.
CSC358H5: Principles of Computer Networks
Introduction to computer networks and systems programming of networks. Basic understanding of computer networks and network protocols. Network hardware and software, routing, addressing, congestion control, reliable data transfer, and socket programming.
CSC363H5: Computational Complexity and Computability
Introduction to the theory of computability: Turing machines, Church's thesis, computable and non-computable functions, recursive and recursively enumerable sets, reducibility. Introduction to complexity theory: models of computation, P, NP, polynomial time reducibility, NP-completeness, further topics in complexity theory.
CSC367H5: Parallel Programming
Introduction to aspects of parallel programming. Topics include computer instruction execution, instruction-level parallelism, memory system performance, task and data parallelism, parallel models (shared memory, message passing), synchronization, scalability and Amdahl's law, Flynn taxonomy, vector processing and parallel computing architectures.
CSC369H5: Operating Systems
Principles of operating systems. The operating system as a control program and as a resource allocator. Core topics: processes and threads, concurrency (synchronization, mutual exclusion, deadlock), processor, scheduling, memory management, file systems, and protection.
CSC373H5: Algorithm Design and Analysis
Standard algorithm design techniques: divide-and-conquer, greedy strategies, dynamic programming, linear programming, randomization, network flows, approximation algorithms and others (if time permits). Students will be expected to show good design principles and adequate skills at reasoning about the correctness and complexity of algorithms.
CSC375H5: Algorithmic Intelligence in Robotics
Robots of the future will need to operate autonomously in unstructured and unseen environments. It is imperative that these systems are built on intelligent and adaptive algorithms. This course will introduce fundamental algorithmic approaches for building an intelligent robot system that can autonomously operate in unstructured environments such as homes and warehouses. This course introduces the broad philosophy of “Sense-Plan-Act”, and covers algorithms in each of these areas -- how should the robot perceive the world, how to make long term decisions and how to perform closed-loop control of articulated robots.
CSC376H5: Fundamentals of Robotics
An introduction to robotics covering basic methodologies, tools, and concepts to build a foundation for advanced topics in robotics. The course covers robot manipulators; kinematics; motion planning; and control. Topics covered in lecture will be implemented and explored in a practical environment using robots from different application domains.
CSC379H5: Introduction to Medical Robotics
This course examines medical robotics from an application driven perspective. Different categories of medical robots and related application principles for therapeutics are considered, with most examples drawn from surgical robotics. How computer methods assist physicians during their use of robotic treatments for patients is a central focus. These computer-assisted methods include treatment planning, patient registration, human-robot interaction, robot control and task execution. Methods will be implemented and explored in a practical environment including the use of real robots.
CSC384H5: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence
Theories and algorithms that capture (or approximate) some of the core elements of computational intelligence. Topics include: search, logical representations and reasoning, classical automated planning, representing and reasoning with uncertainty, learning, decision making (planning) under uncertainty. Assignments provide practical experience, in both theory and programming, of the core topics.
CSC389H5: Computing Education
Introduction to computing education research (CER) and pedagogical content knowledge. Introduction to learning theories and their application to computing. Foundational and influential CER work. High-impact practices and practical applications to evaluation, assessment, and feedback. This course is writing intensive.
CSC392H5: Computer Science Implementation Project
This course involves a significant implementation project in any area of Computer Science. The project may be undertaken individually or in small groups. The project is offered by arrangement with a Computer Science faculty member.
CSC393H5: Computer Science Expository Work
This course involves a significant literature search and expository work in any area of Computer Science. This work must be undertaken individually. It is offered by arrangement with a Computer Science faculty member.
CSC397H5: Topics in Computer Science
Introduction to a topic of current interest in computer science intended for CSC majors and specialists. Content will vary from year to year. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L, T, P) from year to year, but will be between 24-48 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
CSC398H5: Topics in Computer Science
Introduction to a topic of current interest in computer science intended for CSC majors and specialists. Content will vary from year to year. This course may include a practical or tutorial component, depending on the topic chosen for the year. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L, T, P) from year to year, but will be between 24-48 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
CSC399H5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their third or fourth year to work in the research project of a professor in return for 399H course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Research Opportunity Program (ROP) for more details.
CSC399Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their third or fourth year to work in the research project of a professor in return for 399Y course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Research Opportunity Program (ROP) for more details.
CSC404H5: Video Game Design
An introduction to the concepts and techniques for the design and development of electronic games. Topics include: game history, social issues and story elements. The software engineering, artificial intelligence and graphics elements for video games. Level and model design. Audio elements. Real-world aspects of the gaming industry, including the business of game development, design teams and game promotion. Assignments test practical skills in game development, with a team implementation of a complete video game as a course project.
CSC409H5: Scalable Computing
We investigate computation in the large -- utilizing many CPUs with large amounts of memory, large storage and massive connectivity -- to solve computationally complex problems involving big data, serving large collections of users, in high availability, global settings. Our investigation covers both theoretical techniques and current, applied tools used to scale applications on the desktop and in the cloud. Topics include caching, load balancing, parallel computing and models of computation, redundancy, failover strategies, use of GPUs, and noSQL databases.
CSC413H5: Neural Networks and Deep Learning
An introduction to neural networks and deep learning. Backpropagation and automatic differentiation. Architectures: convolutional networks and recurrent neural networks. Methods for improving optimization and generalization. Neural networks for unsupervised and reinforcement learning.
CSC415H5: Introduction to Reinforcement Learning
Reinforcement learning is a powerful paradigm for modeling autonomous and intelligent agents interacting with the environment, and it is relevant to an enormous range of tasks, including robotics, game playing, consumer modeling and healthcare. This course provides an introduction to reinforcement learning intelligence, which focuses on the study and design of agents that interact with a complex, uncertain world to achieve a goal. We will study agents that can make near-optimal decisions in a timely manner with incomplete information and limited computational resources.
The course will cover Markov decision processes, reinforcement learning, planning, and function approximation (online supervised learning). The course will take an information-processing approach to the concept of mind and briefly touch on perspectives from psychology, neuroscience, and philosophy.
CSC420H5: Introduction to Image Understanding
This class is an introduction to fundamental concepts in image understanding, the sub-discipline of artificial intelligence that tries to make the computers "see". It will survey a variety of interesting vision problems and techniques. Specifically, the course will cover image formation, features, object and scene recognition and learning, multi-view geometry and video processing. It will also feature recognition with RGB-D data. The goal of the class will be to grasp a number of computer vision problems and understand basic approaches to tackle them for real-world applications.
CSC422H5: Cryptography and Computational Complexity
A rigorous introduction to the theory of cryptography from the perspective of computational complexity. The relationship of cryptography to the "P=NP" question. As time permits, topics will be chosen from: (i) definitions of different kinds of pseudorandom generators, relationships between them, and ways of constructing them; (ii) secure sessions using shared private key cryptography and public key cryptography; (iii) signature schemes.
CSC423H5: Computer Forensics
Investigation of digital devices that contain evidence, including mobile and handheld devices. Topics include the analysis of memory dumps, event logs, and application caches using existing digital forensic tools as well as the development of new tools to uncover evidence and to work around the use of anti-forensics. Tools and investigations must be clearly documented, so this course contains a significant writing component.
CSC427H5: Computer Security
Network attacks and defenses, operating system vulnerabilities, application security (e-mail, Web, databases), viruses, spyware, social engineering attacks, privacy and digital rights management. The course will cover both attack techniques and defense mechanisms.
CSC428H5: Human-Computer Interaction
Understanding human behaviour as it applies to user interfaces: work activity analysis, observational techniques, questionnaire administration and unobtrusive measures. Operating parameters of the human cognitive system, task analysis and cognitive modelling techniques and their application to designing interfaces. Interface representations and prototyping tools. Cognitive walkthroughs, usability studies and verbal protocol analysis. Case studies of specific user interfaces.
CSC458H5: Computer Networks
Computer networks with an emphasis on systems programming of real networks and applications. Computer network architectures, protocol layers, network programming, and performance analysis. Transmission media, encoding systems, switching, multiple access arbitration. Network routing, congestion control, flow control. Transport protocols, real-time, multicast, social networks.
CSC469H5: Operating Systems Design and Implementation
An in-depth exploration of the major components of operating systems with an emphasis on the techniques, algorithms, and structures used to implement these components in modern systems. Project-based study of process management, scheduling, memory management, file systems, and networking is used to build insight into the intricacies of a large concurrent system.
CSC476H5: Introduction to Continuum Robotics
An introduction to continuum robots. Topics include continuum robot design; mechanisms and actuation; kinematic modeling; motion planning and control; and sensing. Topics covered in the lecture will be implemented and explored in a practical environment using continuum robots.
CSC477H5: Introduction to Mobile Robotics
An introduction to mobile robotic systems from a computational, as opposed to an electromechanical, perspective. Definitional problems in robotics and their solutions both in practice and by the research community. Topics include algorithms, probabilistic reasoning and modeling, optimization, inference mechanisms, and behavior strategies.
CSC478H5: Robotic Perception
This course focuses on perception algorithms for robotics applications and sensors. The aim is to provide an understanding of the challenges encountered when deploying perception algorithms on a robot and introduce some of the tools and algorithms typically used to address these challenges. The algorithms will also be implemented and evaluated using real-world data from common use-cases.
CSC479H5: Advanced Algorithms for Robotics
Enabling safe and interactive robotic autonomy requires broad technical capabilities for perception, decision-making, and control. Building such capabilities involves numerous complex design decisions and algorithmic challenges. Following upon a first exposure to robotics, this course will provide advanced algorithmic and learning based tools for the development and deployment of intelligent robotic systems. It will focus on presenting state estimation, robotic vision, and learning-based planning and control techniques and present these techniques in different robotic application settings.
CSC488H5: Compilers and Interpreters
Compiler organization, compiler writing tools, use of regular expressions, finite automata and content-free grammars, scanning and parsing, runtime organization, semantic analysis, implementing the runtime model, storage allocation, code generation.
CSC490H5: Capstone Design Course
This course gives students experience solving a substantial problem that may span several areas of Computer Science. Students will define the scope of the problem, develop a solution plan, produce a working implementation, and present their work using written, oral and (if suitable) video reports. Class time will focus on the project, but may include some lectures. The class will be small and highly interactive. Topics, themes and required preparation will vary by instructor.
CSC492H5: Computer Science Implementation Project
This course involves a significant implementation project in any area of Computer Science. The project may be undertaken individually or in small groups. The project is offered by arrangement with a Computer Science faculty member.
CSC493H5: Computer Science Expository Work
This course involves a significant literature search and expository work in any area of Computer Science. This work must be undertaken individually. It is offered by arrangement with a Computer Science faculty member.
CSC495H5: Topics in Information Security
Introduction to a topic of current interest in robotics intended Information Security specialists, CSC majors and specialists. Content will vary from year to year but will always maintain a robotics focus. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L, T, P) from year to year, but will be between 24-48 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
CSC496H5: Topics in Robotics
Introduction to a topic of current interest in robotics intended for CSC majors and specialists. Content will vary from year to year but will always maintain a robotics focus. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L, T, P) from year to year, but will be between 24-48 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
CSC497H5: Topics in Computer Science
Introduction to a topic of current interest in computer science intended for CSC majors and specialists. Content will vary from year to year. This course may include a practical or tutorial component, depending on the topic chosen for the year. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L, T, P) from year to year, but will be between 24-48 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
CSC498H5: Topics in Computer Science
Introduction to a topic of current interest in computer science intended for CSC majors and specialists. Content will vary from year to year. This course may include a practical or tutorial component, depending on the topic chosen for the year. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L, T, P) from year to year, but will be between 24-48 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
CSC499H5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their third or fourth year to work in the research project of a professor in return for 499H course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Research Opportunity Program (ROP) for more details.
CSC499Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their third or fourth year to work in the research project of a professor in return for 499Y course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Research Opportunity Program (ROP) for more details.
DRE121H5: Traditions of Theatre and Drama
An introductory survey of the forms and history of world drama from the classical period to the nineteenth century in its performance context. May include later works influenced by historical forms and one or more plays in the Theatre Erindale schedule of production. May include a research performance component. This course is also listed as ENG121H5.
DRE122H5: Modern and Contemporary Theatre and Drama
An introductory survey of the forms and history of world drama from the late nineteenth century to the present in its performance context. May include film adaptations and one or more plays in the Theatre Erindale schedule of productions. May include a research performance component. This course is also listed as ENG122H5.
DRE200H5: Canadian Theatre History
A survey of the history of theatre in Canada, with particular emphasis on developments since the mid-twentieth century.
DRE201H5: Acting
A practical introduction to the art and craft of performance, intended for students with little or no previous experience or training. The course uses a range of acting exercises to teach critical thinking, active listening, specificity of action, intention of thought, and team building. Students will engage in text analysis, collective creation, storytelling, physical and vocal exercises, and character development, in the process cultivating skills transferable to their chosen career path. This course is ideally suited for any student seeking to enhance their interpersonal and presentation skills.
DRE202H5: Intermediate Acting
In this course, students with some experience of acting (as acquired in DRE201H5) will learn to deepen their empathetic engagement with the world around them, using theatre as a catalyst. Students will develop essential skills such as critical thinking, active listening, specificity of action and intention of thought through scene study and will practice more advanced techniques of script analysis, character development, and monologue work. The course is designed to hone transferrable skills and is ideally suited for any student seeking to enhance their interpersonal and presentation skills. Not open to students in the Theatre and Drama Studies specialist (TDS). Note: additional rehearsal hours may be required beyond scheduled course sessions.
DRE221Y5: Shakespeare
A study of about twelve plays by Shakespeare, representing the different periods of his career and the different genres he worked in (comedy, history, tragedy). Such plays as: Romeo and Juliet; A Midsummer Night's Dream; Richard II; Henry IV, parts I and II; Henry V; Twelfth Night; Measure for Measure; Hamlet; King Lear; Antony and Cleopatra; The Tempest. The course provides an in-depth theatre-historical and practical introduction to Shakespeare's work and gives students the opportunity to engage with a wide range of approaches to the staging of his plays.
DRE222H5: The Performance Text
An introduction to the techniques of dramaturgical analysis, through the study of a range of texts to which students might be exposed as theatre practitioners and audience members. Focus will be on the relationship between the performance event and its associated written text. Examples will emphasize modern and contemporary drama, as well as a range of styles, and will include one or more Theatre Erindale productions, and other appropriate productions, as well as a practical workshop component.
DRE223H5: Shakespeare in the Theatre
This course introduces students to Shakespeare’s plays as works of theatre. We will study the spaces and performance practices for which these texts were originally written and explore how subsequent generations of theatre makers approached, adapted, and repurposed them for different performance venues and styles, and from different aesthetic, cultural, and political perspectives, from the seventeenth century to our own time, in Britain, North America, and beyond the English-speaking world. The course will include screenings of select landmark productions.
DRE299Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their second year to work in the research project of a professor. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Project descriptions for the following fall-winter session are posted on the ROP website in mid-February and students are invited to apply at that time. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
DRE300H5: Exploring Puppetry in Performance
Why are we so attracted to (and often unnerved by) objects that come to life? This course introduces students to puppetry and object performance through a combination of practice (construction, operation, staging), history, and analysis. Though they are staples of children’s entertainment, puppets have long appeared in rituals, popular and avant-garde theatre, political protest, and, more recently, on television, in movies, and on Broadway. This course offers an exploration of puppetry forms, materials, and techniques across centuries and continents, as well as an examination of how puppetry relates to and differs from other lifelike technology (e.g., robots, avatars, chatbots).
DRE305H5: Studies in Indigenous Performance
Topic for this course vary from year to year, depending on faculty research interests. The course may cover such matters as interdisciplinary approaches to Indigenous storytelling in experimental film, new media, digital arts and performance, including community collaboration, public spaces, archival or historical content, participatory performance, and decentralized theatre. It may include a practical workshop component and attending a rehearsal for an Indigenous lead production in Toronto.
DRE342H5: Studies in Twentieth Century Performance Styles
A seminar on a topic chosen by the instructor, having a particular focus on twentieth century theories of performance. Includes optional practical workshop component.
DRE344H5: Studies in Theatre and Drama 1
Topic varies from year to year, depending on faculty research interests.
DRE346H5: Studies in Theatre and Drama 2
Topic varies from year to year, depending on faculty research interests.
DRE347H5: Studies in Theatre and Drama 3
Topic varies from year to year, depending on faculty research interests.
DRE348H5: Production Dramaturgy
Plays from the Western theatrical tradition in contemporary productions.
DRE352H5: Stage to Screen
A theoretical and historical study of the relationship between live and recorded media, with special consideration of the translation/adaption from theatrical production to film and television production. Discussion will focus on case studies. Includes optional practical workshop component.
DRE356H5: Theory of Drama
A study of theories of drama, theatre and performance, with a special emphasis on semiotics. Topics will include the relationship between theatre and other modes of social interaction (the fashion show, the political convention), theatre and other performing arts, and theatre/drama as a literary genre. May include one or more Theatre Erindale and other productions in the syllabus.
DRE358H5: The Audience and the Theatre
A theoretical and historical examination of the theatrical performance with a focus on the role of the audience. Topics will include the shifting relationship with performers, both collaborative and manipulative, a reflection on what makes theatre audiences different from other audiences, and what precisely happens at various stages of the playgoing experience. The second part of the semester will be devoted to a series of historical case studies, ranging from ancient Greece through Shakespearian England to 17th-century Spain and 20th-century Germany.
DRE360H5: Developmental Dramaturgy
A theoretical, historical, and practical study of the process of developmental dramaturgy. The course will include a survey and analysis of historical and contemporary interpretations of the role of dramaturgy in the creation of new work. Students will also participate in the practical application of dramaturgical strategies and techniques.
DRE362H5: Playwriting
An introduction to the art and craft of writing for the stage. Through a variety of practical exercises, students will be encouraged to explore the unique properties of the theatrical environment. Topics for investigation will include general issues (such as language, plot structure, characterization, metaphor, and symbolism, etc.) as well as issues specific to the theatrical context (such as theatrical time and space, movement, engagement with an audience, relationship to other theatre practitioners, etc.). The class will involve writing in and out of class, as well as exercises in effective and constructive critique of one another's work.
DRE363H5: Workshop in Playwriting
This course is a continued exploration in writing for the stage for students who have already written one act or solo plays. Participant playwrights will complete a full-length play, incorporate complex structures and anti-structure, and advance their voices and skills as playwrights. The class will workshop scenes and prepare staged readings of participant work. A major focus of this course will be processes of development and revision while working with directors, actors, dramaturgs, and other collaborators.
DRE366H5: Women in Theatre
Topics in the history of women in English-language theatre. Topics will vary from year to year, depending on available faculty. May include a practical workshop component.
DRE370H5: Exploring Shakespeare in Performance
In this course, students will be introduced to contemporary theatrical approaches to the most canonical of dramatists. Through selected theoretical readings, interviews, practical exercises, and screenings of recent productions, we will explore tensions between reverential and radical treatments of the Shakespearean text, including topics such as the politics of casting, the role of the director, and the authority of the actor. The course will ask what it means to stage Shakespeare now and will equip students to develop their own and conceptual and theatrical responses to that question.
DRE380H5: Repertory Theatre in Practice: The Shaw Festival
A study of the role of repertory theatre in the historical and current development of dramatic literature and performance practices, held-on-site at the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. Students will attend productions and lectures, interview actors, directors, designers, and administrators, and collaborate on a staged reading with the assistance of company members. Topics may include the performance history of plays by George Bernard Shaw, Anton Chekhov, Henrik Ibsen, Oscar Wilde, and other playwrights within the Festival's mandate, the analysis of production elements from the perspectives of directors, actors, and designers, and the relevance of "classical" drama for the modern world.
DRE392H5: Independent Study 1
An independent project in theatre and drama studies, chosen by the student and supervised by a member of the faculty. The form of the project will be determined in consultation with the supervisor. A written proposal, signed by the supervisor, must be submitted for approval to the Program Director by May 15 if an "F" course, by November 1 if an "S" course. Proposal forms are available from the Undergraduate Advisor. Independent Study courses may not be taken simultaneously.
DRE394H5: Independent Study 2
An independent project in theatre and drama studies, chosen by the student and supervised by a member of the faculty. The form of the project will be determined in consultation with the supervisor. A written proposal, signed by the supervisor, must be submitted for approval to the Program Director by May 15 if an "F" course, by November 1 if an "S" course. Proposal forms are available from the Undergraduate Advisor. Independent Study courses may not be taken simultaneously.
DRE399Y5: Research Opportunity Program
For senior undergraduate students who have developed some knowledge of a discipline and its research methods, this course offers an opportunity to work on the research project of a professor. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, develop their research skills and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Project descriptions for the following fall-winter session are posted on the ROP website in mid-February and students are invited to apply at that time. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
DRE405H5: Topics in Indigenous Performance
This senior research and creation seminar will explore topics in contemporary Indigenous performance. These topics will vary with faculty research interests; course may cover such matters as intergenerational cross-cultural collaboration, Anishinaabe star and land knowledge, working with culturally-codified objects, contextualizing projects in non-institutional spaces, international inter-indigenous productions, community outreach, and Indigenous feminisms and futurisms. The course may include a practical workshop component or a capstone research or performance project.
DRE420H5: Senior Seminar 1
A senior research seminar in Theatre and Performance. Topic will vary with instructor.
DRE422H5: Senior Seminar II
A senior research seminar in Theatre and Performance. Topic will vary with instructor.
DRE463H5: Senior Seminar III
A senior research seminar in performance and popular culture. Topic will vary with instructor.
DRS121H5: Acting 1
(Offered at Sheridan College) This course will introduce the elements of practical Vocal, Physical, Textual, and Improvisational training for the novice actor, together with an Introduction to Theatre Organization, with an emphasis on releasing the natural impulse. In addition, the student will spend a minimum of 3 hours per week (averaged) in Stagecraft Labs gaining basic backstage and front-of-house skills, and in production-related duties. Typical production tasks are concentrated in 3- to 9-week periods and may include evenings and/or Saturdays.
DRS122H5: Acting 2
(Offered at Sheridan College) The continuation of Acting 1. Stagecraft Labs are replaced, outside class hours, by a minimum of 3 hours per week (average) of production-related duties over the term.
DRS221H5: Acting 3
(Offered at Sheridan College) Half of this course will continue and build upon the work begun in first year in Voice, Text, and Movement. The other half will be an Introduction to Scene Study, including character analysis for the actor, with realistic material from the Canadian and International repertoire. The student will be assigned a minimum of 75 hours of production-related duties outside class time over the year; typical tasks are concentrated in 3- to 9-week periods and may include evenings and/or Saturdays.
DRS222H5: Acting 4
(Offered at Sheridan College) The continuation of DRS221H5 Acting 3.
DRS321H5: Acting 5
(Offered at Sheridan College) Vocal, Physical, and Interpretive Techniques for the developing actor now become more specialized. Unarmed Combat, Period Movement, Contact Improvisation, Ensemble Singing, Intermediate Voice, Professional Practice, and various classical and contemporary styles are included (components may vary with the availability of Guest Instructors). In addition, each student will be scheduled regularly for a half-hour Tutorial to work on acting problems in a one-on-one situation.
DRS322H5: Acting 6
(Offered at Sheridan College) The continuation of DRS321H5, Acting 5. Tutorials culminate in the major solo performance and dramaturgy exercise called the Junior Project.
DRS325H5: Production 1
(Offered at Sheridan College) The student will be cast in a public production, involving 12-33 hours of rehearsal and performance evenings and Saturdays for up to 9 weeks of the term. (Note that, at this level, evening classes in other departments are not possible.)
DRS326H5: Production 2
(Offered at Sheridan College) The student will be cast in a second public production, involving 12-33 hours of rehearsal and performance evenings and Saturdays for up to 10 weeks of the term. (Note that, at this level, evening classes in other departments are not possible.)
DRS421H5: Acting 7
(Offered at Sheridan College) Work on Voice, Text, and Movement continues at an advanced level. Solo Singing, Senior Voice, Character Mask, Dance for Actors, and an Introduction to Sword are included (components may vary with the availability of Guest Instructors). Regular half-hour Tutorials continue, with emphasis on the development of individual audition material. Professional Practice classes include cold reading, mock auditions, and the realities of acting as a business. Styles include Acting for the Camera and other Media Workshops, as well as classes that could range from the Greeks to the Absurdists.
DRS422H5: Acting 8
(Offered at Sheridan College) The continuation of DRS421H5, Acting 7.
DRS425H5: Production 3
(Offered at Sheridan College) The student will be cast in a third public production, involving 12-33 hours of rehearsal and performance evenings and Saturdays for up to 9 weeks of the term. (Note that, at this level, evening classes in other departments are not possible.)
DRS426H5: Production 4
(Offered at Sheridan College) The student will be cast in a fourth public production, involving 12-33 hours of rehearsal and performance evenings and Saturdays for up to 10 weeks of the term. (Note that, at this level, evening classes in other departments are not possible.)
DTS201H5: Introduction to Diaspora and Transnational Studies I
An interdisciplinary introduction to the study of diaspora, with particular attention to questions of history, globalization, cultural production and the creative imagination. Material will be drawn from Toronto as well as from diasporic communities in other times and places.
DTS202H5: Introduction to Diaspora and Transnational Studies II
A continuation of DTS201H5. An interdisciplinary introduction to the study of diaspora, with particular attention to questions of history, globalization, cultural production and the creative imagination. Material will be drawn from Toronto as well as from diasporic communities in other times and places.
DTS301H5: Topics in Diaspora and Transnational Studies
An examination of issues in Diaspora and Transnational Studies. Content in any given year depends on the instructor. Visit the Departmental web site at Diaspora and Transnational Studies for further information.
DTS401H5: Advanced Topics in Diaspora and Transnational Studies
An in-depth examination of issues in Diaspora and Transnational Studies. Content in any given year depends on the instructor. Visit the Departmental web site at Diaspora and Transnational Studies for further information.
ECO101H5: Principles of Microeconomics
An introduction to the basic concepts and techniques of microeconomic theory, including: price determination through supply and demand, market failure, microeconomic theories of households and firms, and market structure.
ECO102H5: Principles of Macroeconomics
An introduction to the basic concepts and techniques of macroeconomic theory, including: the determination and measurement of national income, money and banking, monetary and fiscal policy in closed and open economies.
ECO200Y5: Microeconomic Theory
An intermediate treatment of the basic tools of economic analysis. Applications may include: choice under uncertainty, oligopoly, industrial organization, pricing, resource allocation, externalities, public goods, income distribution and welfare economics.
Note: ECO200Y5 is not open to Commerce or Management Specialist/Major students during Fall/Winter.
ECO202Y5: Macroeconomic Theory and Policy
Macroeconomics studies the economy as a whole. The issues it covers include: Why are some countries much richer than others? Why do most Canadians live much better than their ancestors? Why are there recessions in economic activity? What are the causes of inflation and unemployment? What are the consequences of opening up trade and investment with the rest of the world? This course develops a series of models to answer these and similar questions. *ECO202Y5 is not open to Commerce students in Fall/Winter
ECO204Y5: Microeconomic Theory and Applications (for Commerce and Management)
The course uses microeconomics to analyze a variety of issues from marketing and finance to organizational structure. Topics include consumer preferences and behaviour; demand, cost analysis and estimation; allocation of inputs, pricing and firm behaviour under perfect and imperfect competition; game theory and public policy, including competition policy. Business cases are used to connect theory and practice and to highlight differences and similarities between economics and accounting, marketing and finance. This course is restricted to students in a Commerce or Management program.
ECO206Y5: Microeconomic Theory
A rigorous mathematical treatment of the basic tools of economic analysis regarding consumer and producer theory. Applications may include but are not limited to: choice under uncertainty, oligopoly, industrial organization, pricing, resource allocation, intertemporal consumption, labour supply, externalities, public goods, income distribution and welfare economics. This course is a requirement for certain Specialist Programs and is strongly recommended for students contemplating graduate school.
ECO208Y5: Macroeconomic Theory
This course provides a rigorous discussion of models used in the study of macroeconomic phenomena, including business cycles, economic growth, unemployment, inflation, exchange rates, and international trade. This course is a requirement for certain Specialist Programs, and strongly recommended for students contemplating graduate school.
ECO209Y5: Macroeconomic Theory and Policy (for Commerce)
This course covers macroeconomic topics relevant for commerce students. Analytical tools are used to examine various policy questions, including fiscal policy, monetary policy, exchange rate policy, foreign trade policy, labour market policy, and government regulation of financial intermediaries.
ECO220Y5: Introduction to Data Analysis and Applied Econometrics
An introduction to the use of statistical analysis, including such topics as elementary probability theory, sampling distributions, tests of hypotheses, estimation; analysis of variance and regression analysis. Emphasis is placed on applications in economics and business problems.
ECO225H5: Data Tools for Economists
This course will allow students to develop their programming skills through practical experience using software commonly utilized in advanced Economics courses. Assessments in the course will be contextualized using Economic examples and/or questions. The goal is to enhance software competencies necessary for further studies and career progression in Economics.
ECO227Y5: Foundations of Econometrics
This course provides students with a rigorous introduction to statistical analysis such as probability models, random variables, point and interval estimation, hypothesis testing, probability theory, estimation theory, sampling distributions, hypothesis testing, and simple regression analysis. By the end of the course, students should be familiar with the basic tools used to model uncertainty in economics and finance, to test hypotheses, and to estimate model parameters. This course focuses on both the theory and application of these statistical methods. It provides a solid foundation for subsequent courses in econometrics. This course is recommended for students planning graduate studies in Economics.
ECO251H5: Special Topics in Economics
This course covers a special topic in Economics. Content relates to instructor's area of interest, thus the course varies in focus from year to year. Additional details are available from the academic advisor or departmental website. Limited Enrolment. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
ECO252H5: Special Topics in Economics
This course covers a special topic in Economics. Content relates to instructor's area of interest, thus the course varies in focus from year to year. Additional details are available from the academic advisor or departmental website. Limited Enrolment. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
ECO299H5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their second year to work in the research project of a professor in return for 299H course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Project descriptions for participating faculty members for the following summer and fall/winter sessions are posted on the ROP website (www.utm.utoronto.ca/rop/research-opportunity-program) in mid-February and students are invited to apply at that time. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
ECO299Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their second year to work in the research project of a professor in return for 299Y course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Project descriptions for participating faculty members for the following summer and fall/winter sessions are posted on the ROP website (www.utm.utoronto.ca/rop/research-opportunity-program) in mid-February and students are invited to apply at that time. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
ECO302H5: World Economic History Prior to 1870
This course will focus on the economic success and failure of several key countries and regions from the start of the second millennium up to the early twentieth century. Topics include: pre-modern growth in China & India vs. Europe, the first industrial revolution, exploitation and international trade in the British Empire, the standards-of-living debate, the second industrial revolution. This course is part of the Certificate in Global Perspectives.
ECO303H5: World Economic History After 1870
This course will focus on the economic success and failure of several key countries and regions during the twentieth century. Topics include: globalization, causes and consequences of interwar instability, a history of modern development (Japan, the Asian Tigers, India & China vs. Latin America), new institutional economics & new economic geography: African atrophy. This course is part of the Certificate in Global Perspectives.
ECO310H5: Empirical Industrial Organization
This course focuses on quantitative analysis of firms' strategies in real-world industries, using tools from applied microeconomics and statistics. Topics include studies of monopoly, oligopoly, imperfect competition, and the estimation of demand and cost functions that underpin these markets.
ECO311H5: Pricing Strategies
The course studies firms’ pricing decisions drawing on tools from economic theory. Some examples of the questions that are addressed are: How does a firm determine the price for a new product? How should it optimally price to different market segments? What form do these prices take? When and how should a firm change prices overtime? When should an auction be used to sell a product? What type of auction yields greater profits? The analysis is supplemented by real world examples and case studies from the business world.
ECO312H5: Firms and Markets
This course studies firms’ strategies and the role of government regulators in different markets. Specifically, it studies strategic decisions that firms make when they interact with other firms. These include how to price in the face of competition, how much to invest in R&D or advertising, and whether to buy a rival (by merging, integrating). The course also analyzes the conditions under which firm’s choices require intervention by market regulators due to a tension between firms’ profits and consumer welfare. The course draws on tools from microeconomics and game theory, and the analysis is supplemented by real world examples and case studies from the business world.
ECO313H5: Environmental Economics
Application of economics to the field of environmental and natural resource economics. This course uses economic theory and empirical evidence to address important environmental issues, such as management of renewable and non-renewable resources, and different forms of environmental regulation and pollution control. The course will focus on market based instruments, such as tradeable pollution rights, and climate change problems.
ECO318H5: Economics of Innovation
This course will teach students how to analyze firms and markets, with emphasis on innovation and competition. Topics include: economic growth and productivity, the process of creative destruction, the innovator’s dilemma, the incentives to innovate, product differentiation, dynamic optimization, artificial intelligence, and patent statistics.
ECO320H5: Economic Analysis of Law: Part 1
This course examines the economic basis for law and legal institutions. The topics covered include the microeconomic analysis of property rights, contract law, tort law, crime, and the limitations of economic analysis. The appropriate economic measures of damages in tort and contract cases will be discussed. No previous familiarity with the law is assumed. (This is an economic analysis of legal issues, not a course in law.)
ECO321H5: Economic Analysis of Law: Part 2
This course is a continuation of ECO320H5 An Economic Analysis of Law: Part 1. The topics covered include the microeconomic analysis of corporate law, law and financial markets, bankruptcy law, intellectual property law, marriage and divorce law and the choice between regulation and the common law.
ECO324H5: Economic Development
Economic development and transformation of the low-income countries of Latin America, Africa and Asia. Theory and policy analysis relating to the following economic issues in these countries: higher rates of economic growth, the role of the government in resource allocation, the industrial-agricultural sector interface, inward versus outward looking trade strategies, and the international debt problem. The following problems will also be addressed: food supply, domestic savings, tax revenue, foreign exchange, foreign direct investment, high rates of inflation, benefit-cost analysis and economic planning.
ECO325H5: Advanced Economic Theory - Macro
This course studies the economic foundations of macroeconomic theory and develops analytical skills in constructing and solving macroeconomic models. This course is recommended for students contemplating graduate studies. This course is part of the Certificate in Advanced Economics.
ECO326H5: Advanced Economic Theory - Micro
This course is an advanced analysis of microeconomic theory, including the behaviour of consumers under uncertainty; issues in poverty, inequality and social welfare; game theory and its applications to economics and political economy. This course is recommended for students contemplating graduate studies. This course is part of the Certificate in Advanced Economics.
ECO333H5: Urban Economics
This is a course on the application of economic analysis to four major areas of urban activity. The areas are land markets, housing and buildings, transportation, and public finance. In each area, we will consider the role of the government and attempt to understand the source of many current urban economic problems.
ECO335H5: Public Economics I: Global Warming, Biodiversity Loss and Inequality
Public Economics I focuses on contemporary public policy questions. The goal of the course is to help students develop and apply analytical tools, such as cost-benefit analysis, to examine pressing policy issues of our time. Issues include responses to global warming, preserving biodiversity, combating growing inequality, and the regulation of addictive substances. Students will learn how to use empirical evidence to examine these issues. The course places a strong emphasis on discussion, debate, and effective writing about policy issues from an economics perspective.
ECO336H5: Public Economics II: Advanced Policy Analysis
Public Economics II builds on Public Economics I (although the latter is not a prerequisite). The course focuses on externalities and market failure, and the appropriate role of government in response. Students will study the actual role of government in a variety of settings, with a view to identifying ways of improving economic efficiency and the quality of the environment (among other desirable ends) through different types of policy reform. The course should appeal to students who would like to learn more about applied microeconomic analysis and/or who are interested in public policy issues. The course will provide students with a useful set of microeconomic tools for analyzing public policy questions. Students will also learn basic empirical methods, develop effective writing skills, and apply the techniques learned to examine a variety of interesting current policy issues.
ECO343H5: Labour Economics and Public Policy
This course uses both applied microeconomic theory and empirical analysis to examine labour markets in Canada. The course is especially focused on the link between research and public policy. Topics to be covered include: labour supply and demand, minimum wages, immigration, human capital, education production, inter- and intra-generational equality, and peer effects. At the end of the course, students should have a firm grasp of key policy issues involving Canada's labour market and be able to critique the quality of other empirical studies.
ECO344H5: Labour Economics and Market Frictions
This course studies the economic behaviour of employers and employees as they interact in the labour market. The class extends beyond basics of labour supply and demand to consider cases when markets are not always perfectly competitive. The course will cover such topics as segmented labour markets, unionization and collective bargaining, unemployment, monopsony, and discrimination.
ECO345H5: Macroeconomics and the Labour Market
This course aims to provide students with an overview of recent macroeconomic research on the labour market. Discussion includes theoretical models as well as empirical evidence. Topics include: search frictions, labour market flows, sorting, inequality, occupational mobility, human capital accumulation, and intergenerational mobility.
ECO348H5: Foundations of Money and Banking
The strategy of the course is to develop a series of models to examine the importance of money and banks. The topics examined in this framework include: the role of money and the financial system, effects of inflation, public pensions and national debt, and the role and importance of banks.
ECO349H5: Money, Banking & Financial Markets
This course explores a wide range of topics on the theories of money and banking. The strategy of the course is to develop a series of models to examine the importance of money, banks, and other financial institutions in the way economies work. The topics examined in this framework include: the role of money and the financial system, effects of inflation, bond and stock markets, banks, control of the money supply, and international monetary systems.
ECO351H5: Special Topics in Economics
This course covers a special topic in Economics. Content relates to instructor's area of interest, thus the course varies in focus from year to year. Students require specific prerequisites for each course. Details are available from the academic advisor or departmental website. Limited Enrolment. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
ECO352H5: Special Topics in Economics
This course covers a special topic in Economics. Content relates to instructor's area of interest, thus the course varies in focus from year to year. Students require specific prerequisites for each course. Details are available from the student advisor or departmental web site.
ECO353H5: Special Topics in Economics
This course covers a special topic in Economics. Content relates to instructor's area of interest, thus the course varies in focus from year to year. Students require specific prerequisites for each course. Details are available from the student advisor or departmental website. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
ECO358H5: Financial Economics I
This course provides an introduction to capital markets and asset pricing. We will cover the role of financial markets, project valuation, expected utility and risk aversion, financial risk, general equilibrium pricing, the Capital Asset Pricing Model, Arbitrage Pricing Theory, derivatives, option pricing, term structure of interest rates, foreign exchange markets, and market efficiency.
ECO359H5: Financial Economics II
This course provides an introduction to Corporate Finance. Topics covered include: project valuation, firm's capital structure, dividend policy, management control and agency problems, public share offerings, debt offerings and auctions, mergers and acquisition, bankruptcy costs, tax-influences and bank runs. This course is the sequel to ECO358H5.
ECO362H5: Economic Growth: Theory and Evidence
Differences in income per capita levels and growth rates across countries are large. Understanding the causes behind these differences is a fundamental question in economics. The main objective of this course is to apply economic theory to understand and interpret empirical observations on economic development and growth. By the end of this course students will have a basic knowledge of the main facts characterizing economic development and growth over time and across countries, as well as the ability of theoretical models to account for these facts. The topics that will be covered in the course include the role of physical and human capital accumulation in growth and income differences, the reallocation of factors across sectors (structural transformation) and aggregate productivity, the importance of the misallocation of resources across heterogeneous firms in aggregate productivity. Key empirical applications include the growth performance of industrialized countries since World War II and the productivity slowdown observed in recent decades, the stagnation of living standards in many developing countries, and the role of automation and artificial intelligence in growth and development.
ECO364H5: International Trade
An analysis of the nature, effects and policy implications of international trade theory; the theories of comparative costs and reciprocal demands, factor reward equalization, international tariffs and customs unions.
ECO365H5: International Monetary Economics
An analysis of the nature, effects and policy implications of international finance; balance-of-payments and foreign exchange analysis; liquidity problems and topics related to current problems in international finance.
ECO370H5: The Economics of Organizations
This course examines the determinants of the boundary between firms and markets. It addresses issues such as centralization vs. decentralization, authority, coordination vs. motivation, incentives, and ownership and property rights among firms. The course also examines how the solutions to these problems create organizations.
ECO372H5: Data Analysis and Applied Econometrics in Practice
This course focuses on empirical methods used in economics to identify causal relationships. Students will learn how to interpret different model specifications, explore various identification strategies, and understand their implications for causal inference. Through critical evaluation of existing research and hands-on empirical work, students will apply these methods to real-world data, conducting original analyses. By the end of the course, students will have a deep understanding of causality and its central role in applied economic research.
ECO373Y5: The Environment: Perspectives from Economics and Ecology
(Formerly ECO373H5) The course examines the basic principles of environmental economics and ecology and the interaction between ecological and economic factors. It assesses alternative criteria and objectives for environmental policy. Problems associated with the implementation of environmental policy are analyzed and examined through case studies.
ECO375H5: Applied Econometrics I
This course is an introduction to econometrics. Statistical foundations and the interpretation of multiple regression models, with an emphasis on cross-sectional data. Application of regressions to a wide variety of economic questions and data sources, including the use of statistical software. Problems in the identification of causality, and an introduction to methods of addressing common statistical issues. This course is recommended for students contemplating graduate studies. This course is part of the Certificate in Advanced Economics.
ECO380H5: Managerial Economics: Competitive Strategy
This is a course in applied microeconomics. This course will use a series of real world examples, together with theoretical insights from game theory, to answer questions like, why are some industries more profitable than others? Why are some firms profitable while others are not? How can firms create, capture and maintain their profits in the face of competition? The first part of the course will be devoted to the building blocks of strategy, including industry analysis, positioning, and sustainability of competitive advantage. Next we will use game theoretical tools to analyze strategic interaction among firms, such as strategic pricing, entry and competitive bidding. Lastly, the course will cover the scope of the firm and technologic competition. Students shall learn from the course, the ability to identify and categorize major strategic problems, and suggest and evaluate candidate strategies.
ECO381H5: Managerial Economics: Personnel Economics
This course examines selected material on compensation and incentives in hierarchical organizations. Topics include recruitment and hiring, training, turnover, downsizing, motivating workers, teams, allocating authority and task assignment.
ECO383H5: Introduction to Empirical Methods of Microeconomics
For students who would like to learn more about economics data analysis - this course provides an intuitive introduction to empirical methods in microeconomics. The class begins with a self-contained and intuitive treatment of modern methods used in microeconomic data analysis. We then go on to study some interesting current empirical research, focusing on the education field, to see how those methods are applied. The course should prepare you to read current empirical research in microeconomics -- without any preparation, empirical papers can seem rather impenetrable. This course serves as a complement to and a foundation for 'Applied Econometrics I' (ECO375H5).
ECO385H5: Economics of Information
This course analyses how markets function when market participants have asymmetric information. We will show how asymmetric information may lead to market breakdown and how an appropriately designed contract can help alleviate the adverse effect of asymmetric information on market efficiency. We will cover three types of models: moral hazard, screening and signaling. There are a wide variety of applications, including labour contracts, price discrimination, insurance markets, and marketing.
ECO399H5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides senior undergraduate students who have developed some knowledge of a discipline and its research methods, an opportunity to work in the research project of a professor in return for course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, develop their research skills and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Project descriptions for participating faculty members for the following summer and fall/winter sessions are posted on the ROP website (www.utm.utoronto.ca/rop/research-opportunity-program) in mid-February and students are invited to apply at that time. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
ECO399Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides senior undergraduate students who have developed some knowledge of a discipline and its research methods, an opportunity to work in the research project of a professor in return for course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, develop their research skills and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Project descriptions for participating faculty members for the following summer and fall/winter sessions are posted on the ROP website (www.utm.utoronto.ca/rop/research-opportunity-program) in mid-February and students are invited to apply at that time. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
ECO400Y5: Economics Internship
Through a part time, unpaid, 200-hour work placement, fourth year students apply economics content and skills. Placements are made throughout the GTA in both the private and public sectors. Successful candidates gain an opportunity to enhance their University experience through on-site work placements providing the possibility to develop skill sets within a business setting. Monthly class meetings plus year-end and presentation are required. Normally, the 200 hours will be completed by attending the work placement one full day each week from September to April. Students interested in a finance-industry placement are strongly recommended to arrange their course schedule to allow for a two day a week work placement in one semester. This arrangement increases the possibility of placement and enhances the experience although careful course planning is essential. More information is available on the Department of Economics website: https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/economics/experiential-learning.
ECO401Y5: Special Topics in Economics
This course covers special topics in Economics at an advanced level. Content relates to instructor's area of interest, thus the course varies in focus from year to year. Students require specific prerequisites for each course. Details are available from the student advisor or departmental website. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 48-60 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
ECO402H5: Special Topics in Economics
This course covers a special topic in Economics. Content relates to instructor's area of interest, thus the course varies in focus from year to year. Students require specific prerequisites for each course. Details are available from the student advisor or departmental web site. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
ECO411H5: Human Capital and Education in the Economy
(Formerly ECO412Y5) This course addresses empirical and theoretical issues in education economics. Topics will include the interaction of human capital with growth and inequality, teacher incentives and teacher quality, early childhood education, and the racial achievement gap. We will also discuss the tools economists use to measure the causal effects of policies, and consider how statistics often presented in policy debates may be biased. After this course, students should be comfortable reading research papers in economics.
ECO420Y5: Reading Course, Seminar or Workshop
Primarily for advanced Specialist students who have exhausted course offerings in a particular subject area. Open only when a faculty member is willing and available to supervise. Students must obtain the written approval of the chair or associate chair before enrolling. See the student advisor for details.
ECO421H5: Reading Course, Seminar or Workshop
Primarily for advanced Specialist students who have exhausted course offerings in a particular subject area. Open only when a faculty member is willing and available to supervise. Students must obtain the written approval of the chair or associate chair before enrolling. See the student advisor for details.
ECO422H5: Reading Course, Seminar or Workshop
Primarily for advanced Specialist students who have exhausted course offerings in a particular subject area. Open only when a faculty member is willing and available to supervise. Students must obtain the written approval of the chair or associate chair before enrolling. See the student advisor for details.
ECO433H5: Gender and Family Economics
In this course, students will examine gender and the family within modern economics. Topics include: gender wage differentials in labour markets; labour force participation; marriage markets; intimate partner violence; fertility and the demand for children; divorce; and the life cycle of the family. Concepts are applied to current topics within the development and labour literatures.
ECO435H5: Growth and Development of the Chinese Economy
Both the pace and scale of China's economic transformation over the last three decades are unprecedented in human history. Understanding the nature and the sources of this great transformation is important for at least two reasons. First, it may provide valuable lessons of economic development for other developing countries. Second, the Chinese economy has become increasingly integrated with the world economy. The growth prospect of China is important for both China and the rest of the world. This course will examine China's growth and development through the lens of the modern macroeconomic theory. The topics that will be covered in the course include China's historical growth performance, structural transformation and growth since 1978, resource reallocation and aggregate productivity changes, financial sector development, inflation and business cycles in China. This course is part of the Certificate in Global Perspectives.
ECO436H5: Measuring Well Being
The course concerns itself with measuring societal economic well being. The historical development of the subject is considered together with the conceptual issues (and objections) associated with representing the welfare of economic agents. Different notions of welfare (Poverty, Inequality, Polarization, Equality of Opportunity) and the various empirical techniques for examining them are critically explored and applied using existing datasets.
ECO440H5: Advanced Topics in Financial Economics
This course deals with the following topics in financial economics: (1) Theoretical and empirical issues concerning the relevance of corporate financial structure; (2) Interactions between corporate investment and financing decisions; and (3) The role of the financial system and the legal system in economic development and growth.
ECO456H5: Public Policy Analysis
(Formerly ECO356H5) This course provides an opportunity for students to work with real-world data to address current public policy questions. The course discusses issues that arise when analyzing non-experimental social science data and will teach students to recognize the types of research designs that can lead to convincing policy conclusions. A hands-on approach will be emphasized.
ECO460H5: Introduction to Financial Risk Management
This course provides an overview of financial risks which include market risk, credit risk and operational risk. It also discusses the importance of managing these risks and introduces students to basic tools for analyzing and managing them.
ECO461H5: The Economics of Financial Risk Management
This course focuses on how to use derivative securities to manage financial risks. It includes a discussion of why firms should hedge financial market risk, identification and quantification of financial risks; the value-at-risk (VaR) measure of risk; credit risk and capital allocation and difference between speculation and hedging.
ECO466H5: Empirical Macroeconomics and Policy
Students will increase their data literacy and learn how to apply techniques to address policy issues. The topics covered will include the practical design of monetary policy, the rationale for current monetary policy in Canada, and statistical methods for predicting key macroeconomic variables. As part of the course, students will follow current global issues and will forecast how domestic and international events may alter the Bank of Canada's monetary policy in the short run. Students will team-up with their classmates, discuss their individual forecasts, and select one for a group presentation. Traditionally, at the end of the course, a team from ECO466H5 is chosen to compete in the Bank of Canada Governor’s Challenge.
ECO475H5: Applied Econometrics II
A research-oriented course continuing from ECO375H5. The regression model is extended in several possible directions: time series analysis; panel data techniques; instrumental variables; simultaneous equations; limited dependent variables. Students will complete a major empirical term paper, applying the tools of econometrics to a topic chosen by the student.
EDS100H5: Introduction to Education Studies
This course explores broad social and cultural issues in education. It will address questions about how we advance knowledge, who controls how and what we learn and what role education has in how societies are shaped, changed and reproduced. Students will evaluate the influence education can have on who we are, how we wish to live and what we aspire to as citizens in a global and digital community. This investigation will also consider how language, race, gender, class and culture intersect with teaching and learning.
EDS101H5: Health and Education
This course serves as an introduction to theory and research in the related fields of health and education. Students will learn to identify, address, and manage health-related risk in school environments by deepening their knowledge of holistic and brain-based theory. The course will explore health and wellness as a fundamental human right by addressing proactive approaches through the Determinants of Health and Developmental Assets Framework. Active research will include investigation of school-based policies and practices (e.g, the critique of a new fitness technology, examination of a school food and nutrition program, assessment of a school health campaign).
EDS200H5: Learning Through the Lifespan
This course focuses on the physical skills, cognitive abilities, and socioemotional experiences that shape an individual’s capacity to learn throughout the lifespan (i.e., infancy to late adulthood). It will address how learning is a lifelong process and how we are continually educating ourselves in different ways by incorporating strategies that best suit our lifespan stage. Critical research and theorists will be discussed to enhance the topics presented. Students are required to complete an 8-hour field experience, and thus must obtain a valid vulnerable sector police check by the start of classes.
EDS210H5: Communication and Conflict Resolution
This course focuses on principles and practices of conflict management and resolution, emphasizing interpersonal communication, including cross-cultural perspectives and communicating across different identities and worldviews, with emphasis on the relevance of these skills, principles and processes to teaching and learning.
EDS220H5: Equity and Diversity in Education
This course focuses on raising awareness and sensitivity to equity and diversity issues facing teachers and students in diverse schools and cultural communities. It includes a field experience which entails observation of, and participation in, equity and diversity efforts in a community organization.
EDS250H5: Indigenous Education
This course is open to all students from any discipline. Designed to increase opportunities to learn about education through a First Nation, Métis and Inuit perspective, the course will increase knowledge and awareness about pedagogies, learning approaches and educational experiences related to indigenous people living in Canada. In line with indigenous ways of knowing, this course will be structured with learning that involves reflecting on personal actions by looking at ways that indigenous models of education support social and community well-being.
EDS275H5: Mass Media and Debunking the Myths of Education
This course explores prevailing myths about education. It invites students to critically examine consensus and controversy in the media while unpacking some of the research underpinning commonly held beliefs about curriculum, students, teachers, and education systems. The ability to interpret and assess the merits of news, fake news, research, and social media content is an increasingly important skill in a data rich world. This course will have a strong emphasis on critical reading, analysis and evaluation.
EDS285H5: The Future of Ed Tech: Active Learning Classrooms and Artificial Intelligence
This course will explore research on emerging digital models, learning pods, platforms, apps and policies that seek to further customize, enhance and bring greater equity to education through technology. From the initiation of open courseware, to the inception of virtual reality, artificial intelligence, ALC classrooms, makerspaces and the “shared economy”, this course will foster a culture of digital innovation to investigate, accelerate, test and study new possibilities and advancements in the field of educational technology.
EDS291H5: Black Education
This course investigates first-hand experiences and contributions of black students and teachers in the Canadian education system. Historical, systemic barriers to access will be studied along with current policy, practice and teaching pedagogies that aim to produce systems of education without oppression. By looking specifically at research focused on black schooling in Ontario, students will engage in policy analysis and assess current Afrocentric schooling models to assess effectiveness in eliminating educational inequality. Drawing on principles of equity and diversity, Afrofuturist scholarship will be emphasized and provide the framework that seeks to understand and investigate the past to better inform education’s future.
EDS300H5: Learning Design
This course provides an opportunity to study and practice the fundamental skills involved in designing learning opportunities, in schools and a variety of other settings. The skills required to organize and deliver engaging educational experiences, i.e., lesson and unit planning, will be practiced through a range of pedagogical and practical applications. A case studies approach will be taken, incorporating a field experience where students will apply their learning.
EDS310H5: Education in a Global Context
This course invites students to explore, analyze and compare educational themes and topics within a global context. Using leading frameworks of transformative change, students develop knowledge, apply critical thinking, practice cultural proficiency and empathy as they conduct a comparative analysis of teaching and learning models in both an international and local setting.
EDS325H5: Supplemental Instruction in Higher Education: Peer-Facilitated Study Groups
Are you looking for an opportunity to lead a peer facilitated study group on campus in a subject discipline in which you have expertise? This course introduces students to the theory and practice of Supplemental Instruction (SI) in higher education. Course content focuses on the theory and skills of facilitation and leadership as you develop an understanding of the purpose, history, evolution and impact of SI in different university contexts. EDS325H5 course participants complete a mandatory internship that involves developing and delivering 8-10 peer led study sessions through the Facilitated Study Group (FSG) Program run by the Robert Gillespie Academic Skills Centre. Class work will embed relevant pedagogical tools, resources and research to support successful implementation of your FSG sessions. This course involves additional training and delivery hours that will occur before, during and outside of class time. Enrolment approval into EDS325H5 is subject to available courses requiring FSG leaders and selection is based on demonstrated excellence in the subject matter of those courses.
EDS345H5: Design Thinking Incubator: From Problem to Prototype
This course is open to all students on campus and provides an intellectual toolset for finding innovative solutions to complex problems. Students will learn to apply education theory to design thinking models in order to identify and solve real-world challenges facing their chosen discipline, whether in business, education, healthcare, etc. An iterative approach for testing, refining, and improving their idea will be used to create a working prototype of their proposed solution. This will demonstrate the idea's sustainability, scalability and viability, while taking into account ethical and legal implications.
EDS377H5: Why the First Year of University Matters: The Impact of Peer Mentoring
This course explores contemporary issues in higher education with a focus on experiences, issues and challenges commonly encountered by undergraduate students during their first year of university. Interdisciplinary in its focus, topics of exploration include an examination of adult and student development theories, models of student engagement and an investigation into mindset, levels of persistence, habits of mind and personality characteristics that impact student success. An internship component is required. Students taking the course will assume a peer-mentoring role to apply and contextualize theories and skills learned in the course. This is a closed course open only to those students who have successfully secured a peer-mentoring position with the First Year Peer Mentoring program
EDS388H5: Experiential Learning Opportunity within the Community
Are you looking to gain hands-on experience supporting instruction and training in a school, non-profit, community, or corporate organization? This internship course offers you a minimum of 100-hours of experiential learning by connecting your major and/or minor specialization to applied teaching and training opportunities in the field. Through your internship, you will integrate, extend, and deepen learning to uncover new academic and professional insights and gain valuable experience. As part of this course, students can choose to participate in an international experience that may involve added costs and require a supplementary application process.
EDS399H5: Research Opportunity Program
This ROP provides the opportunity for students to join a research team and assist on projects currently underway in Education Studies. The work will include preparing an impact study, conducting interviews and using a data-informed approach to investigate the impact of a range of programs and educational interventions. The work will involve conducting pre and post surveys, leading qualitative observational data collection, and producing an analysis. Project descriptions for participating faculty members for the following summer and fall/winter sessions are posted on the ROP website in mid-February and students are invited to apply at that time. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
ENG100H5: Effective Writing
This course provides practical tools for writing in university and beyond. Students will gain experience in generating ideas, clarifying insights, structuring arguments, composing paragraphs and sentences, critiquing and revising their writing, and communicating effectively to diverse audiences. This course does not count toward any English program.
ENG101H5: How to Read Critically
This foundational course serves as an introduction to a wide range and variety of methods for literary and textual analysis, giving students a set of interpretive tools they can use to analyze texts in English classes and beyond. Emphasis will be on developing close, attentive reading skills as ways of thinking not just about, but through texts, and on deploying these skills effectively in essays and discussions. The class will draw on literary works from a variety of countries, centuries, genres, and media. We recommend that students considering a Specialist, Major, or Minor in English take this course.
ENG102H5: How to Research Literature
This foundational course serves as an introduction to conducting research for English courses at the university level. Skills taught will be: reading and engaging with arguments about literature; incorporating the arguments of others into your own; locating and evaluating secondary sources; and conducting primary research. The class will draw on literary works from a variety of countries, centuries, genres, and media. The class will normally culminate in a longer research paper, developed over the course of the semester. We recommend that students considering a Specialist, Major, or a Minor in English take this course.
ENG103H5: Literature and Medicine
It has never been more essential to learn from the history of disease: how we have perceived it and how we have written it. This course introduces students to the important narratives about health, epidemics, and medicine from both non-Western and Western traditions and provides conceptual foundations for ethical thinking about justice, health, and disability in both science and the arts. The survey will cover prose narrative, film, media, non-fiction, and poetry, and will encourage students to think between the past and the present in their analyses and creative projects. Lectures and discussions will emphasize the interlocking relationships between medicine, language, race, empire, and power.
ENG104H5: Literature and Social Change
How can narratives inspire social justice and contribute to positive social change? This course introduces students to foundational narratives, texts, and ideas about literature and social change from around the world, providing conceptual foundations for understanding how narratives shape societal and environmental transformation across contexts and disciplines. Through nonfiction, fiction, poetry, film, and digital multimedia, the course investigates how narratives contribute to social, environmental, and human rights movements.
ENG105H5: Introduction to World Literatures
Students will learn about contemporary creative writing in English from around the world. The course will cover the work of some famous writers, such as Toni Morrison or J.M. Coetzee, and also new and emerging authors, from Canada to New Zealand to Nigeria.
ENG107H5: Literature and AI
Artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) technologies pose a unique set of opportunities and challenges for society. While these technologies require highly specialized knowledge to understand and create, their social impact demands broad, collective consideration. This course will introduce students to important literary, philosophical, and scientific texts that reflect on AI’s use in the human world. What are the ethics of AI? How have literary and artistic imaginings of AI shaped its development and questioned its future? Advances in AI have the power to alter cultural understandings of what it means to be human. Lectures and discussion in this course will provide students with a space to think through the vast implications of these new technologies. This course will empower students to consider what responsible, social implementation of AI entails. The literature of AI shows how technologies emerge not only as material facts but also as process—as stories being written.
ENG110H5: Narrative
This course gives students skills for analyzing the stories that shape our world: traditional literary narratives such as ballads, romances, and novels, and also the kinds of stories we encounter in non-literary contexts such as journalism, movies, myths, jokes, legal judgments, travel writing, histories, songs, diaries, and biographies.
ENG121H5: Traditions of Theatre and Drama
An introductory survey of the forms and history of world drama in its performance context from the classical period to the nineteenth century. May include later works influenced by historical forms and one or more plays in the Theatre Erindale schedule of production. May include a research performance component. This course is also listed as DRE121H5.
ENG122H5: Modern and Contemporary Theatre and Drama
An introductory survey of the forms and history of world drama from the late nineteenth century to the present in its performance context. May include film adaptations and one or more plays in the Theatre Erindale schedule of productions. May include a research performance component. This course is also listed as DRE122H5.
ENG140Y5: Contemporary World Literatures
An exploration of how late twentieth and twenty-first century literature in English responds to our world. Includes poetry, prose, and drama by major writers, such as Toni Morrison, Alice Munro, J.M. Coetzee, Salman Rushdie, and emerging writers.
ENG201Y5: Reading Poetry
An introduction to poetry, through a close reading of texts, focusing on its traditional forms, themes, techniques, and uses of language; its historical and geographical range; and its twentieth-century diversity.
ENG202H5: British Literature in the World I: Medieval to Eighteenth-Century
This course serves as an introduction to influential texts that have shaped British literary history from Beowulf and Geoffrey Chaucer to William Shakespeare, from John Milton and Aphra Behn to Frances Burney. Students will focus on questions such as the range and evolution of poetic forms, the development of the theatre and the novel, and the emergence of women writers. The course will encourage students to think about the study of English literatures in relationship to history, including the history of world literatures.
ENG203H5: British Literature in the World II: Romantic to Contemporary
An introduction to influential texts that have shaped British literary history from the Romantic period to the present, covering developments in poetry, drama, and prose, from William Wordsworth to Zadie Smith and beyond. The course will address topics such as revolution and war; the increasing diversity of poetic forms; the cultural dominance of the novel; romanticism, Victorianism, modernism, and postmodernism; feminism; colonialism and decolonization; the ethnic and cultural diversity of Anglophone literature in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries; literature and sexual identity; the AIDS epidemic; and technology and the digital age. The course will encourage students to think about the study of English literatures in relationship to history, including the history of world literatures.
ENG204H5: How to Read Poetry
This course gives students the tools they need to appreciate and understand poetry's traditional and experimental forms, specialized techniques, and diverse ways of using language. The course asks a fundamental question for literary studies: why is poetry is such an important mode of expression in so many different time periods, locations, and cultures?
ENG205H5: Rhetoric
An introduction to the rhetorical tradition from classical times to the present with a focus on prose as strategic persuasion. Besides rhetorical terminology, topics may include the discovery and arrangement of arguments, validity in argumentation, elements of style, and rhetorical criticism and theory.
ENG206H5: Rhetorical Criticism
This course will use the tools and perspectives of rhetoric, from the Sophists to the postmodern, to analyze and critique the texts and other cultural artifacts that surround us. Much of what we encounter in the cultural realm is an argument; the task in this course will be to understand and engage with those arguments. Students will analyze the rhetoric of poetry, fiction, and drama, as well as of news stories, speeches, video, images, and more.
ENG210Y5: The Novel
An introduction to the novel through a reading of ten to twelve texts, representing a range of periods, techniques, regions, and themes.
ENG211H5: Introduction to the Novel
This course gives students a foundational understanding of the novel in English. It introduces them to the history of the novel, from medieval sagas and adventure stories to modern experiments with fragmentary narratives. The course covers novels from a range of geographical places; students will be asked to consider why the novel has been so successful in the past, and what its futures might be. Students will read at least one complete novel during the course and extracts from others.
ENG213H5: The Short Story
This course explores shorter works of nineteenth, twentieth and twenty first-century writers. Special attention will be paid to formal and rhetorical concepts for the study of fiction as well as to issues such as narrative voice, allegory, irony, and the representation of temporality.
ENG214H5: The Short Story Cycle
This course explores collections of short stories. It examines individual stories, the relationships among and between stories, the dynamics of the collection as a whole, and the literary history of this genre, along with its narrative techniques and thematic concerns.
ENG215H5: The Canadian Short Story
An introduction to the Canadian short story, this course emphasizes its rich variety of settings, subjects, and styles.
ENG217H5: Writing about the Visual Arts
This course introduces students to various literary traditions of writing about the visual arts, from the close analysis of images in novels, poems, and essays to verbal forms (such as ekphrasis and calligrammes) that make poetry and fiction out of paintings, photographs, and sculptures. While the puzzle of translating between space-based and time-based arts will be at the centre of our inquiry, the course will also consider texts and books as visual objects; how writers create visual experiences and mental images; and how literary writing is inspired by museums and exhibitions. Students will have opportunities to practice writing about the arts in collaboration with the Blackwood Gallery at UTM and its featured artists, and, when possible, with other Peel Region and Greater Toronto Area artists and galleries.
ENG218H5: Interactive Storytelling and Worldmaking
This course examines the deep history and extraordinary diversity of interactive storytelling, with a focus on narrative art in digital games, transmedia/cross-platform projects, alternate reality and pervasive games, theme parks, and immersive performances, as well as literary texts and films. We will consider forms (e.g., riddles, parables, metafiction, branching narratives) that require participatory agency, choice-based and emergent storytelling, as well as genres (e.g., creation myths, planetary romances, travelogues, adventure fiction, Expressionist cinema) that discover or assemble a narrative by traversing a world. We will also explore the contexts and theoretical grounds of reader- and player-centric approaches.
ENG223H5: Introduction to Shakespeare
This course introduces students to Shakespeare. Lectures equip them with historical knowledge about literature, politics, and the theatre in Shakespeare's time. Tutorials help them to grapple with Shakespeare's language, versification, and stagecraft. By the end of the course students will have a new framework within which to understand - and interrogate - the enduring power of Shakespeare's work.
ENG231H5: Studies in Popular Literary Culture
An introduction to a contemporary trend or concern in literary culture. May focus on a popular theme, genre, or author. Area of focus will vary from year to year.
ENG234H5: Children's Literature
A critical and historical introduction to works written and created for or appropriated by children, from early didactic forms through the “Golden Era” to 20th-century fiction and contemporary works that centre non-white identities and experiences. The course may include fiction, poetry, drama, non-fiction, and visual media, and may cover works by authors such as John Bunyan, Robert Louis Stevenson, Lewis Carroll, Mark Twain, Lucy Maud Montgomery, A.A. Milne, Louise Fitzhugh, Salman Rushdie, Cherie Dimaline, Aviaq Johnston, Katherina Vermette, Audrey Thomas, Jason Reynolds, Hanna Alkaf, Namina Forna.
ENG235H5: Comics and the Graphic Novel
An introduction to the writing and sequential art of comics and graphic novels, this course includes fictional and nonfictional comics by artists such as Will Eisner, Art Spiegelman, Frank Miller, Alan Moore, Chris Ware, Daniel Clowes, Julie Doucet, Marjane Satrapi, Chester Brown and Seth.
ENG236H5: Detective Fiction
At least 12 works by such authors as Edgar Allen Poe, Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Arthur Conan Doyle, G.K. Chesterton, Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, S.S. Van Dine, Dashiell Hammett, Rayond Chandler, William Faulkner, P.D. James, Ruth Rendell.
ENG237H5: Science Fiction
This course explores speculative fiction that invents or extrapolates an inner or outer cosmology from the physical, life, social, and human sciences. Typical subjects include AI, alternative histories, cyberpunk, evolution, future and dying worlds, genetics, space/time travel, strange species, theories of everything, utopias, and dystopias.
ENG238H5: Fantasy Literature
This course focuses on fantasy literature, film, and television, and draws on a wide range of critical, cultural, and theoretical approaches. As it explores the magical and supernatural, it may consider such genres as alternative histories, animal fantasy, epic, fairy tales, magic realism, and swords and sorcery. Authors and texts covered will survey the history of fantasy across American, British, and Canadian literature, and may include Beowulf, Octavia Butler, Lewis Carroll, Neil Gaiman, Ursela K. Le Guin, C.S. Lewis, George R. R. Martin, Ovid, J.K. Rowling, Shakespeare, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Jonathan Swift, and J. R. R. Tolkien.
ENG239H5: Horror Literature
A critical and historical critical introduction to gothic literature, film, and television covering such authors as Angela Carter, Stephen King, H.P. Lovecraft, Richard Matheson, Edgar Allen Poe, Anne Rice, Mary Shelley, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Bram Stoker. The course draws on diverse critical and theoretical approaches as it examines a wide range of national and cultural contexts. It focuses on the gothic in broad terms and such concepts and issues as fear, horror, terror, the monstrous, the mythological, and the supernatural.
ENG250Y5: American Literature
An introductory survey of major works in American literature, this course explores works in a variety of genres, including poetry, fiction, essays, and slave narratives.
ENG251H5: Introduction to American Literature
This course introduces students to major works in American literature in a variety of genres, from poetry and fiction to essays and slave narratives.
ENG255H5: Introduction to Canadian Literature
This course introduces students to Canadian literatures, from the oral narratives of Canada's early Indigenous communities to new writing in a digital age.
ENG259H5: Imagining Nature: Literature and the Environment
This course examines the relationship between writing and the environment. Students will examine the role of the written word in defining, thinking about, and acting in the interest of the planet and its climate, while considering literary genres, theoretical frameworks, and contemporary and multidisciplinary debates. Readings will vary but may include William Wordsworth, Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, Rachel Carson, Edouard Glissant, Octavia Butler, Jamaica Kincaid, and Amitav Ghosh.
ENG261H5: Music and Literature
This course introduces students to the intersection of music and literature. We will study how melody, rhythm and texture interact with language, story and performance using examples from folk ballads and blues, art-songs, popular songs, musical theatre, jazz and hiphop, as well as poems inspired by musical styles and performers. Works to be covered may include folksongs collected by Francis Child and Alan Lomax, Thomas Moore’s Irish Melodies, popular songs by Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell, theatrical works by Bertolt Brecht, Stephen Sondheim and Lin-Manuel Miranda, performances by The Last Poets, hiphop lyrics by Public Enemy, and poems by William Blake, William Wordsworth, Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes and Don McKay.
ENG263H5: Play and Games
Why do we play? Game designers, philosophers, sociologists, and performance theorists have long argued that play can tell us about our development as children and adults, our search for freedom, our relationship to animals, and the values and problems of our societies. This course introduces students to Play Studies and Game Studies in the humanities by considering the reasons we play in relationship to the objects we play with, including things that are more normally thought of as games—card and board games, sports, toys, video games—as well as other sites of playful thought and action, like paintings, films, and short stories. Students in this course will encounter major scholars of play and games and key terms and concepts in the analysis of play and games. We will play and design story-rich games and we will discuss effective narrative design primarily in digital games. Students will also consider problems in play and games like cheating, addiction, and gamification.
ENG269H5: Queer Writing
Introducing a lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer tradition in literature and theory, this course may explore texts from a variety of historical periods, from the classical to the contemporary. It will focus on a variety of genres, potentially including poetry, drama, fiction, criticism, and popular culture.
ENG271H5: Toronto's Multicultural Literatures
Toronto is one of the world's most diverse and multicultural cities. This course is a study of literature by writers with strong connections to Toronto who explore issues such as diasporas, identity, nationality, place, origin, and the multicultural experience. Writers may include: Judy Fong Bates, Dionne Brand, Austin Clarke, Pier Giorgio Di Cicco, Rohinton Mistry, Michael Ondaatje, M. Nourbese Philip, Shyam Selvadurai, M. G. Vassanji.
ENG273H5: Literatures of Immigration and Exile
In this course we will study literary and non-literary texts in English from the nineteenth century to the present day that come from colonial and postcolonial contexts and that speak to the experience of those affected by colonization, immigration, exile, war, and globalization. Students will be introduced to postcolonial theory and questions about race, ethnicity, religious difference, and diasporas in Anglophone literary studies. They may study texts by Joseph Conrad, Henry James, Samuel Beckett, James Joyce, Jean Rhys, Ezra Pound, Eugene Ionesco, Vladimir Nabokov, Arthur Koestler, Joseph Brodsky, V.S. Naipaul, Chinua Achebe, Milan Kundera, Josef Skvorecky, Salman Rushdie, Mavis Gallant, W.G. Sebald, Michael Ondaatje, Edwich Danticat, and Azar Nafisi.
ENG274H5: Indigenous Literature and Storytelling
An introduction to Indigenous literature and storytelling with emphasis on First Nations, Métis, and Inuit authors in Canada and Native American authors in the United States of America. In this course, students will review academic citation practices, apply Indigenous theory to storytelling, and engage with audio recordings, poetry, drama, novels, short stories, and non-fiction by writers such as Jeannette Armstrong, Billy-Ray Belcourt, Natalie Diaz, Michael Dorris, Tomson Highway, Basil Johnston, Daniel Heath Justice, Lee Maracle, Eden Robinson, Leslie Marmon Silko, and Tommy Orange.
ENG275H5: Feminist Approaches to Literature
This course will consider the implications, for literary studies and for literary writing, of modern traditions of feminist and gender theory. Students will encounter the work of major feminist thinkers - e.g., Mary Wollstonecraft, Simone de Beauvoir, Alice Walker, Julie Kristeva, and Judith Butler - and texts by major women writers. The course will explore feminist approaches to literature, including those that borrow from post-structural, psychoanalytic, and contemporary gender, race, and queer theories.
ENG276H5: Fanfiction
This course investigates fanfiction from a variety of theoretical standpoints, including gender and sexuality studies, critical race studies, and affect theory. It considers the literary history of fanfiction- amateur, unauthorized stories about characters invented by canonical writers (e.g., Jane Austen and Arthur Conan Doyle); a wide selection of fanfiction stories; and the commercialization of the products of the modern fanfiction industry.
ENG277H5: Bad Romance
This course covers romances of the eighteenth to the twenty-first century, ranging from the amatory (stories about love, longing, and desire) to the fantastic (the supernatural and fantasy). Students will consider issues of canonization, popularity, the text-author-reader relationship, definitions of high and low art, ideas about good and bad writing, and eroticism and desire. Texts may include Harlequin romances, paranormal romance, and works by Jane Austen, the Brontes, Daphne du Maurier, Stephenie Meyer, Nicholas Sparks, Sarah Waters, and E. L. James.
ENG279H5: History of Video Games
This course introduces students to the history of video games from early arcade cabinets and personal computers to home video game consoles and mobile devices in everyday life. It considers the role of culture, technology, and marketing in the formation of interactive texts, genres, and play experiences. Students will be exposed to unique primary sources in the Syd Bolton Collection of video games and the Electric Playground Media Archive of historical game industry footage through course content, lectures, and assignments.
ENG280H5: Critical Approaches to Literature
An introduction to literary theory and its central questions, such as the notion of literature itself, the relation between literature and reality, the nature of literary language, the making of literary canons, and the roles of the author and the reader.
ENG289H5: Creative Writing
Students will engage in a variety of creative exercises, conducted across a range of different genres of literary writing.
ENG291H5: Reading for Creative Writing
This course will help students to see connections between their reading and their work as creative writers. They will read texts in a variety of literary and non-literary genres and consider the way that writers learn their craft from other writers. Practical assignments will encourage students to find creative ways to critique, imitate, speak to, and borrow responsibly from the work they read.
ENG299H5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their second year to work on the research project of a professor. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods, and share in the excitement and discovery of creating new knowledge. Professors' project descriptions for the following fall-winter session are posted on the ROP website in mid-February and students are invited to apply at that time. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
ENG299Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their second year to work on the research project of a professor. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods, and share in the excitement and discovery of creating new knowledge. Professors' project descriptions for the following fall-winter session are posted on the ROP website in mid-February and students are invited to apply at that time. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
ENG300Y5: Chaucer
The foundation of English literature: in their uncensored richness and range, Chaucer's works have delighted wide audiences for over 600 years. Includes The Canterbury Tales, with its variety of narrative genres from the humorous and bawdy to the religious and philosophical, and Troilus and Criseyde, a profound erotic masterpiece.
ENG301H5: Making Love in the Sixteenth Century
In this course, students will follow the changing constructions of love and love poetry in the sixteenth century, starting with Wyatt and Surrey, passing through Richard Tottel, to the Elizabethan court, and ending with the erotic love poetry that served as a backlash against the Petrarchanism of the early sixteenth century.
ENG302H5: Magical Realism
Magical realism is a visual and literary style that seamlessly incorporates fantastical or magical elements into realist fiction. In this way, magical realism challenges our usual expectations about reality and its representation. This course will explore the origins of magical realism in visual arts and its exciting revisions in diverse historical and cultural settings. Issues of individual and communal identity, social justice, revenge and haunting, traumatic past and collective memory, power struggles and political upheaval are all part of this literary style. We will look at paintings, read fiction and non-fiction, and consider film as productive contexts to examine the uneasy marriage between plausible reality and magical imagination.
ENG303H5: Milton
Selections from Paradise Lost and other works.
ENG304H5: Seventeenth-Century Poetry
An in-depth study of poetry written during the reign of the early Stuarts and the English Civil Wars. Includes genres such as love poetry, social and political satire, metaphysical poetry, utopic fiction, and political philosophy and poetry, and authors such as John Donne, Katherine Philips, Margaret Cavendish, George Herbert, Richard Crashaw, Henry Vaughan, Thomas Traherne, Ben Jonson, Aemilia Lanyer, Robert Herrick, and Andrew Marvell.
ENG308Y5: Romantic Poetry and Prose
This course provides a general survey of the poetry and prose of the British Romantic period (roughly from 1770 to 1830). Subjects to be explored may include political revolution, slavery and abolition, the expansion of the British empire, the flourishing of women writers and feminist thought, and experimentation with literary forms. Authors to be considered may include Anna Barbauld, William Cowper, William Blake, Olaudah Equiano, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Hannah More, Mary Wollstonecraft, Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley, Jane Austen, Walter Scott, John Clare, Henry Louis Vivian Derozio, and John Keats.
ENG309H5: Anishinaabe Storytelling and Oral Tradition
An introduction to the legends, beliefs, and values of the Anishinaabek Nation. Students will explore literary and non-literary texts, media, and/or performances, spanning traditional and innovative forms, genres, and mediums. Content may include contributions by Basil Johnston, Jane School Craft, George Copway, Richard Wagamese, Winona LaDuke, Margaret Noodin, Drew Hayden Taylor, Louise Erdrich, Waubgeshig Rice, Alan Corbiere, Isaac Murdoch, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Debajehmujig Theatre Group, and Aanmitaagzi.
ENG310H5: Modern South Asian Literature in English
The English language belongs not just to the British colonizers, but to the artists and writers, the poets and politicians of the colonized world. From Rabindranath Tagore’s mystical poetry to Slumdog Millionaire, the styles and aesthetics of South Asian English are as vast as the peninsula itself, and the literature that has emerged from this diverse region has utterly reshaped contemporary global culture. Additionally, we will take up select contemporary criticism on subaltern studies, postcolonialism, and narratology. Authors will include Mulk Raj Anand, V.S. Naipaul, R.K. Narayan, Z.A. Suleri, Salman Rushdie, Anuradha Roy, Jjumpa Lahiri, as well as select works of poetry, film, and visual art.
ENG311H5: Medieval Literature
This course explores a selection of writings in from medieval Britain, excluding the works of Chaucer.
ENG312H5: Special Topic in Medieval Literature
A concentrated study of one aspect of medieval literature or literary culture, such as a particular genre or author, a specific theme, or the application of a particular critical approach. Topics may vary from year to year.
ENG313H5: Special Topic in Early Modern British Literature
A concentrated study of one aspect of early modern British literature or literary culture, such as a particular subgenre or author, specific theme, or the application of a particular critical approach. Topics may vary from year to year.
ENG314H5: Special Topic in Eighteenth-Century British Literature
A concentrated study of one aspect of eighteenth-century British literature or literary culture, such as a particular subgenre or author, specific theme, or the application of a particular critical approach. Topics may vary from year to year.
ENG315H5: Special Topic in Nineteenth-Century British Literature
A concentrated study of one aspect of nineteenth-century British literature or literary culture, such as a particular subgenre or author, specific theme, or the application of a particular critical approach. Topics may vary from year to year.
ENG316H5: Special Topic in Modern and Contemporary Literature
A concentrated study of one aspect of modern or contemporary literature or literary culture, such as a particular subgenre or author, specific theme, or the application of a particular critical approach. Topics may vary from year to year.
ENG317H5: Drama of the Global South
This course compares works of selected playwrights of the Global South in an effort to understand their refashioning of postcolonial perspectives and subaltern histories. Ranging beyond the West and its theatrical traditions, the course will explore innovative theatrical performances that focus on South-South affiliations and link discourses, places, and people positioned between peripheries. Students will learn about traditions of orality, cultural pluralities, and indigenous mythic/folk styles that constitute the unique syncretism of South-South theatre cultures. Writers may include Manjula Padmanabhan, Shahid Nadeem, Meng Jinghui, Dalia Taha, Athol Fugard, Ama Ata Aidoo, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Derek Walcott, José Triana, and Ariel Dorfman.
ENG318H5: Women Writers: The 18th Century
A study of poems, novels, dramas, and prose works by British and American authors such as Mary Astell, Aphra Behn, Anna Laetitia Barbauld, Frances Burney, Maria Edgeworth, Eliza Haywood, Hannah More, Judith Sargent Murray, Mercy Otis Warren, Charlotte Smith, Phyllis Wheatley, and Mary Wollstonecraft. Topics may include professionalization and the literary marketplace; domestic labour; motherhood and children’s literature; class and education; personal agency and political engagement; colonialism, slavery, and abolition; Bluestocking culture; and early feminist thought.
ENG319H5: Sexuality, Race, and Gender in Video Games and Gaming Culture
This course investigates representation and identity in and through digital games. Students will primarily consider gender, race, sexuality, and the non-human world in relation to the complex circuits of desire, projection, and disguise that exist among players, avatars, non-player characters, and other gamers. Students will interpret and critique both blockbuster AAA games with large development budgets and production teams as well as small-scale indie and experimental games and will learn about expressive, critical, and avant-garde design and play practices. The class will also discuss games as instruments of persuasion, protest, social change, and community formation.
ENG320H5: Transforming Literature in the Sixteenth Century
This course focuses on transformations of major literary forms during the sixteenth century, especially on how these transformations involve engagements with medieval and earlier materials. It covers such topics as Petrarchan poetry in translation by Wyatt and Surrey; John Fox's and John Bale's repackaging of Anne Askew's biography; and the work of Ovid and other classical authors in translation and adaptation, as in the Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis.
ENG322Y5: The Rise of the Novel in the Eighteenth Century
This course studies the emergence of prose fiction as a genre recognized in both a literary and a commercial sense. Authors may include Aphra Behn, Daniel Defoe, Samuel Richardson, Henry Fielding, Laurence Sterne, Walter Scott, and Jane Austen.
ENG323H5: Austen and Her Contemporaries
A study of selected novels by Austen and of works by such contemporaries as Radcliffe, Godwin, Wollstonecraft, Wordsworth, Edgeworth, Scott, and Shelley, in the context of the complex literary, social, and political relationships of that time.
ENG324H5: Special Topic in Game Studies
A concentrated study of one facet of Game Studies, such as a genre, mechanic, or era in gaming, an aspect of game design, production, or reception, or the application of a specific critical approach. Topics may vary from year to year.
ENG325H5: The Victorian Novel
This course surveys several major novels in order to understand the genre that came to dominate literary culture in the Victorian era. Topics may include realism, the marriage plot, the social-problem novel, feminism and sexual identity, novels of growing up, the city, and seriality. Authors may include Charles Dickens, William Makepeace Thackeray, Emily Brontë, Charlotte Brontë, Elizabeth Gaskell, Anthony Trollope, George Eliot, Wilkie Collins, Thomas Hardy, George Gissing, and Oscar Wilde, among others.
ENG326H5: Premodern World Literatures
This course approaches the premodern period by examining early British literatures alongside literary works of the period c.500-1650 from the continents of Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas. Texts may include Tang dynasty poetry, the Tale of Genji, the Persian epic Shahnameh, the Italian Decameron, 1001 Nights, Old Norse sagas, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, and Harriot's Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia. Texts will be provided in translation where necessary.
ENG327H5: Chaucer Today
Sometimes thought of as the foundation of English poetry, Geoffrey Chaucer’s life and work in the late 14th century may seem remote from the 21st. Yet, Chaucer continues to be read, retold, and reinterpreted today, both in the academy and in popular culture. This course will consider Chaucer’s work and its modern retellings to ask how and why he continues to matter. Alongside readings of Chaucer’s original poetry, we will consider modern adaptations and translations of his work into various media from film to hip-hop, Chaucer’s reappearance and uses in global contexts, and reinterpretations of his life and works amidst rapidly shifting political and cultural realities.
ENG328H5: Writing for Games and Narrative Design
This course introduces students to the planning and implementation of writing for video games as well as the role of the narrative designer in game development. Students will practice multiple collaborative forms of game writing (e.g., flow charts, quest outlines, character descriptions, flavour text, non-player character dialogue, cut scenes, storyboard scripts), level design, and player experience creation. Students will learn to use design and editing tools as well as iterative processes of revising game writing to augment gameplay and game features. Students will also learn to analyze and critique diverse game narratives and will discuss careers in game writing.
ENG329H5: Contemporary British Fiction
This course explores six or more works by at least four British contemporary writers of fiction.
ENG330H5: Medieval Drama
Texts and performances preceding and underlying the plays of Shakespeare and his contemporaries, including creation-to-doomsday play cycles; plays performed in parishes, inns, great halls, outdoor arenas, and at court; religious and political propaganda plays; political pageants. Attention is given to social, political, and theatrical contexts.
ENG331H5: Elizabethan Drama
This course explores English drama to the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, with attention to such playwrights as John Lyly, Thomas Kyd, Christopher Marlowe, and William Shakespeare.
ENG332H5: Restoration and 18th Century Literature
This course engages with British poetry and prose ca. 1660-1800. Topics may include the flourishing of print culture; satirical and sentimental literature; the "rise" of the novel; art and aesthetics; science and technology; colonialism, slavery, and abolition; and women writers. Authors may include Aphra Behn, John Dryden, Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift, Samuel Johnson, and Frances Burney.
ENG333H5: The Modernist Novel
This course explores novels by such writers as Henry James, Joseph Conrad, Willa Cather, Edmund Forster, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, David Lawrence, and William Faulkner.
ENG334H5: Global Indigenous Literatures
This course studies Indigenous literatures from around the world. Regions may include the Americas, the Pacific Islands, New Zealand, Australia, Asia, Africa, Russia, and Scandinavia. Through these literatures, the course addresses topics such as: the specific and localized ways colonialism manifests and exerts power; UNDRIP (the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples); the distinct experiences, histories, storytelling traditions, and decolonization processes of Indigenous peoples from different regions; how and why decolonization processes shift from one part of the world to another; and movements and experiences that bring Indigenous peoples from various regions together in solidarity.
ENG335H5: Jacobean Drama
This course explores English drama from the death of Queen Elizabeth I to the closing of the theatres, with attention to such playwrights as Ben Jonson, Thomas Middleton, William Shakespeare, and John Webster. As part of this course, students may have the option of participating in an international learning experience that will have an additional cost and application process.
ENG336H5: Special Topic in Shakespeare
A concentrated study of one aspect of Shakespeare's work, such as his use of a particular genre, a particular period of his work, a recurring theme, or the application of a particular critical approach. Topics may vary from year to year.
ENG337H5: Restoration and 18th-Century Drama
A study of drama and theatrical performance from 1660-1800, featuring works by authors such as Aphra Behn, Susannah Centlivre, William Congreve, Hannah Cowley, John Gay, George Lillo, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Richard Steele, and William Wycherley. Students can expect to learn about the modes of drama practiced during this period and their intersection with sexuality and gender, class, economics, politics, colonialism, and national identity. Students will also learn about theatre history, including the advent of female performers, changing theatre construction, the Licensing Act and theatrical censorship, the rise of the celebrity actor, and the popularization of Shakespeare.
ENG339H5: Early Modern Women Writers
A study of poems, plays, prose fiction, and polemical works by medieval and early modern writers such as Anne Askew, Mary Wroth, Queen Elizabeth I, Mary Sidney, Amelia Lanyer, Lucy Hutchinson, Hester Pulter, and Margaret Cavendish. Topics may include race, women and science, love poetry from a female perspective, gender and trans studies, renarrations of the story of Eve, sexuality, and editorial history and practice.
ENG340H5: The Rise of Modern Drama
A study of plays in English by such dramatists as Oscar Wilde, William Butler Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, John Millington Synge, Susan Glaspell, Langston Hughes, and Eugene O'Neill, as well as plays in translation by such dramatists as Henrik Ibsen, Anton Chekhov, August Strindberg, and Luigi Pirandello.
ENG341H5: Modern Drama: Mid Twentieth Century to Present Day
A study of plays by such dramatists as Samuel Beckett, Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, Harold Pinter, Wole Soyinka, and Caryl Churchill, with background readings from other dramatic literatures.
ENG342H5: Contemporary Drama
A study of ten or more plays by at least six recent dramatists.
ENG343H5: World Drama
Students will read/watch screenings of drama in English and in translation from around the world, including Africa, East Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, the Caribbean, Latin America, and South America. Topics may include traditional forms (Kathakali dance, Noh and Kabuki, Beijing Opera, Nigerian masquerades) adapted for the modern stage; agit-prop and political drama; object performance; the place of drama within a global media ecology; and drama as a site of intercultural and transcultural appropriation, negotiation, and exchange.
ENG344H5: Spy Fiction
This course examines the rise and popularization of spy fiction in the twentieth century. It focuses on authors such as Graham Greene and John le Carré within the context of the Cold War and the nuclear stand-off between the Soviet Union and the West.
ENG345H5: Victorian Poetry
This course surveys the poetry of the Victorian era in Britain, with a focus on experiments in poetic genre and form, and on the social and political commitments of poetry in a period of colonialism, industrialization, and changing ideas about gender and sexuality. Topics may include lyric and the dramatic monologue, the poetry of political protest, love and sexuality, feminism and queerness, aestheticism and decadence, empire and the emergence of global poetry in English, and pastoral and the poetry of urban life. Poets may include Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Alfred Tennyson, Robert Browning, Matthew Arnold, Christina Rossetti, D. G. Rossetti, Gerard Manley Hopkins, A. C. Swinburne, Toru Dutt, George Meredith, Augusta Webster, Amy Levy, Oscar Wilde, Michael Field, Thomas Hardy, Sarojini Naidu, and many others.
ENG346H5: Indigenous First Story Toronto
This course explores the history of Toronto/Tkaronto as it is documented in contemporary Indigenous texts and oral narratives. In addition to engaging with these works to provide a fuller understanding of Indigenous histories, treaties, and laws, this course may draw from archives such as First Story Toronto at the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto to shed light on present-day lived experiences. The course asks students to reflect on what it means to be treaty people within this territory, the responsibilities of living in the Toronto area, and how to be more mindful as treaty partners to Indigenous residents within this space and place. Course content may include audio recordings, fiction, non-fiction, poetry, visual art, film, and drama. The course may also include land-based and autoethnographic components.
ENG347H5: The Nineteenth-Century American Novel
This course will introduce students to historical and cultural concerns of nineteenth-century America through major subgenres of the novel, including the gothic, the sentimental, realism, and naturalism. Emphasis will be on shifts in the novel across the century as well as the relationship of the nineteenth-century novel to print culture, including serial publication in literary magazines and newspapers. We may also think about how non-fiction texts from this period draw on the conventions of fiction. Authors studied may include Charles Brockden Brown, Fanny Fern, George Lippard, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Charles Chesnutt, Mark Twain, Edith Wharton, and Pauline Hopkins.
ENG348H5: Special Topic in Indigenous Storywork
Applying decolonial and Indigenous methodologies, students will explore Indigenous texts, media, and/or performances, spanning traditional and innovative forms, genres, and mediums engaged by Indigenous writers and makers. Topics may vary from year to year.
ENG349H5: Contemporary Poetry
This course examines works by a variety of contemporary poets, focusing on how their writing participates in contemporary dialogues about art, society, and the larger world.
ENG350H5: Poetry and Modernism
Special study of Hopkins, Yeats, Pound, Eliot, Stevens; selections from other poets.
ENG351H5: Toni Morrison: Texts and Contexts
In this advanced introduction to the work of Toni Morrison, we will encounter masterpieces such as Sula, Song of Solomon, and Beloved and pay particular attention to questions of literary tradition and inheritance, form and narrative voice, and ethics in contexts of oppression. We will read most of Morrison’s novels, alongside major essays, in the chronological order in which they were published. Students will be introduced to major themes in African American literary criticism and theory through close engagement with Morrison’s oeuvre and its critical legacy.
ENG352H5: Canadian Drama
Canadian plays, with emphasis on major playwrights and on developments since 1940, but with attention also to the history of the theatre in Canada.
ENG355H5: Black British Literature
This course is an advanced introduction to the concept and key texts of ‘Black British literature.’ A term arising directly in response to empire and the postcolonial, Black British literature indicates texts written by both African- and South Asian- descended writers from the Caribbean, Africa, and the subcontinent. Focused primarily on the twentieth-century, we will contextualize this literary tradition within wider questions of Britain in the world and how the idea of literary influence is challenged and re-formed. Writers may include: Sam Selvon, Hanif Kureishi, Derek Walcott, Stuart Hall, Buchi Emecheta, Caryl Philips, Zadie Smith, Helen Oyeyemi, and Warsan Shire.
ENG356H5: Caribbean Literature
A multi-lingual and multi-racial archipelago, the Caribbean has a rich literary and theoretical tradition: this course will introduce students to major figures in Caribbean Anglophone literature (including Jean Rhys, Kamau Brathwaite, George Lamming, Erna Brodber, V.S. Naipaul, Jamaica Kincaid, in addition to some texts read in English translation (including Aimé Cesaire, Alejo Carpentier, Maryse Condé, Marie Vieux Chauvet)
ENG357H5: New Writing in Canada
Close encounters with recent writing in Canada: new voices, new forms, and new responses to old forms. Texts may include or focus on poetry, fiction, drama, non-fiction, or new media.
ENG358H5: Special Topic in Canadian Literature
A concentrated study of one aspect of Canadian literature or literary culture, such as a particular subgenre, author, period, or theme, or the application of a particular critical approach. Topics may vary from year to year.
ENG359H5: Land Back: Indigenous Voices and Narratives
This course examines how stories by Indigenous Peoples assert the inherent right to Indigenous sovereignty, self-determination, and self-government, with emphasis on settler colonialism in Canada and in the United States of America. This course engages with Indigenous narratives to understand the relationship between concepts of land rights, Indigenous resurgence, reconciliation, decolonization, and the politics of recognition. Topics may include Indigenous futurisms, digital sovereignty, treaty-making, Indigenous feminisms, sovereign eroticism, Indigenous political movements, land-based organizing, and environmental and climate justice. Texts may include the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the UN Working Group on Indigenous Peoples, as well as film, music, literature, and non-literature from individuals such as Glen Coulthard, Winona Laduke, Alanis Obomsawin, Tracey Lindberg, Audra Simpson, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Joy Harjo, Leroy Little Bear, Snotty Nosed Rez Kids, and Taiaiake Alfred.
ENG360H5: Early American Literature
This course explores writing in a variety of genres produced in the American colonies in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, such as narratives, poetry, autobiography, journals, essays, sermons, and court transcripts.
ENG361H5: Canadian Literature, Beginnings to 1920
This course explores the origins of Canadian literature, with an emphasis upon the post-Confederation period. Students will examine work in a range of genres, which may include novels, short stories, life writing and poetry, and will consider how the nation is being created and debated in print. Topics may include settler colonialism, nationalism, and representation. Attention may also be paid to Canadian book history and print culture in the period.
ENG362H5: Canadian Literature, 1920 to the Present
This course explores Canadian literature from the 1920s to the contemporary period. Students will examine the work of major authors in their cultural, social, and historical contexts. Topics may include the development of literary modernism in Canada, regional literary geographies, postmodern innovations, multiculturalism and hybridity, and Indigenous literary and cultural production in the part of Turtle Island that is called Canada.
ENG363Y5: Nineteenth-Century American Literature
This course explores American writing in a variety of genres from the end of the Revolution to the beginning of the twentieth century.
ENG364Y5: Twentieth-Century American Literature
This course explores twentieth-century American writing in a variety of genres.
ENG365H5: Contemporary American Fiction
This course explores six or more works by at least four contemporary American writers of fiction.
ENG366H5: Special Topic in American Literature
A concentrated study of one aspect of American literature or literary culture, such as a particular subgenre, author, period, or theme, or the application of a particular critical approach. Topics may vary from year to year.
ENG367H5: African American Literature
This class is an advanced introduction to the field of African American literary studies, tracing its origins and emergence through the slave trade to the present day, with particular focus on nineteenth- and twentieth-century writing, and the criticism and theory to which it gives rise. Authors studied may include: Harriet Jacobs, Charles Chesnutt, Pauline Hopkins, James Baldwin, Gayl Jones, Toni Morrison.
ENG368H5: Black Feminist Poetics
This course considers the relationship between poetry written by Black women (particularly June Jordan, Audre Lorde, and Lucille Clifton) and Black feminist theory (bell hooks, Angela Davis, the Combahee River Collective). In addition to a grounding in this 20th-century moment, the course will also consider nineteenth-century example (including Sojourner Truth and Ida B. Wells) and the contemporary moment, consider a wide arc of how Black feminism produces and arises from Black poetics.
ENG369H5: Black Women’s Writing
This course takes as its focus the intersection of race and gender as explored and expressed in diasporic Black women’s writing. With a focus on North America, we will ask about the relationships amongst self-expression and genre under conditions of disempowerment. This course introduces contemporary thinking about race and colonial encounters alongside fiction and life-writing by African American, Canadian, and Caribbean women from a range of historical periods. Authors may include: Mary Prince, Harriet Jacobs, Audre Lorde, Jamaica Kincaid, Edwige Danticat, Dionne Brand.
ENG370H5: Global Literatures in English
This course involves in-depth study, within the framework of postcolonial and transnational studies, of literatures in English from around the world. It includes fictional and non-fictional texts and contemporary films and media representations.
ENG371H5: Special Topic in World Literatures
A concentrated study of one aspect of postcolonial literature or literary culture, such as a particular genre, author, period, regional or national context, or theme, or the application of a particular critical approach. Topics may vary from year to year.
ENG372H5: Special Topic in Literary Theory
A concentrated study of one aspect of literary or critical theory, such as a particular school of theory, an important author, or a contemporary theoretical debate. Topics may vary from year to year.
ENG373H5: Creative Writing: Poetry
This course will involve a wide variety of experiments with poetic expression and poetic forms.
ENG374H5: Creative Writing: Prose
Students will experiment with fiction and non-fiction prose writing, including autobiography, biography, and narrative for new visual, digital, and interactive media.
ENG375H5: Editing Literary Texts
Students will learn the basics of literary editing for different readerships: the course will cover such topics as the selection of a base text; treatment of variants; creation of paratext; design and layout; proofs and proofchecking; and the differences between print and digital media.
ENG376H5: Creative Writing: Nonfiction
Students will experiment in a workshop environment with a variety of short, non-fictional forms, e.g. memoir, auto/biography, true crime.
ENG377H5: Special Topic in Creative Writing
A concentrated study of one aspect of creative writing practice, such as a particular genre or theme, or the application of a particular formal technique. Topics may vary from year to year.
ENG378H5: Special Topic in Writing for Performance
A concentrated study of one aspect of writing for performance such as a particular medium (e.g. digital), genre, or theme. Topics may vary from year to year.
ENG379H5: American Literature in Global Contexts
We often categorize literature by its nation of origin when we study and teach, though we also recognize the limitations involved in doing so. Over the past several decades, the study of U.S. literature, in particular, has been shaped by transnational and global approaches that emphasize the porous nature of any “national” literature. In this course, students will study approaches to American Literature in global contexts. These may include hemispheric approaches to U.S. literatures that emphasize U.S. interactions with Central America and the Caribbean, engagements with Africa in U.S. literatures, or U.S. literatures and the Pacific from the eighteenth century through the present.
ENG380H5: History of Literary Theory
Literary theory from classical times to the nineteenth century. Topics include theories of the imagination, genre analysis, aesthetics, the relations between literature and reality and literature and society, and the evaluation and interpretation of literature.
ENG381H5: Digital Texts
This course considers the ways in which digital technologies are transforming texts, reading, readerships, and the idea of the literary. Students will study a wide variety of digital texts, e.g., fanfiction, webcomics, viral Tumblr posts and tweets, and video games. They will also learn about the use of digital tools to read, study, and preserve texts. The course may include a practical project, e.g., the design of a narrative game using Twine; the curation of a digital exhibit using Omeka; or an argument about some text/s using visualization software.
ENG382Y5: Contemporary Literary Theory
This course explores literary theory from the early twentieth century to the present. Schools or movements studied may include structuralism, formalism, phenomenology, Marxism, post-structuralism, reader-response theory, feminism, queer theory, new historicism, psychoanalysis, postcolonial theory, and cultural and race studies.
ENG383H5: British Romanticism and Its Contexts
This course gives students a new perspective on the cultural contexts for British Romanticism: students will learn about literature's relationship to philosophy, politics, religion, science, and colonialism in the Romantic period, as they examine works by some major authors such as William Wordsworth, Walter Scott, and Mary Shelley.
ENG384H5: Literature and Psychoanalysis
An introduction to psychoanalysis for students of literature, this course considers major psycholanalytic ideas through close readings of selected texts by Freud and related psychoanalytic thinkers. The course also explores critiques and applications of Freud's work and examines a selection of literary texts that engage psychoanalytic theory.
ENG385H5: British Romanticism, 1770-1800
This course covers the early Romantic period in British Literature. Students may read novels such as Frances Burney's Evelina; plays such as Richard Brinsley Sheridan's School for Scandal; writing on the French and American Revolutions; William Blake's Songs of Innocence and of Experience; and ballads by William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Hannah More, and Mary Robinson.
ENG386H5: British Romanticism, 1800-1830
This course covers the later Romantic period in British Literature. Authors studied may include Walter Scott, Mary Shelley, Percy Shelley, Jane Austen, Lord Byron, and John Keats.
ENG387H5: Popular Novels in the 18th Century
This course offers students the opportunity to read and analyse early novels in English, from the scandalous to the sentimental to the Gothic. They will consider what made novels best-sellers and why the popularization of novel reading was such a source of controversy. Authors may include Daniel Defoe, Samuel Richardson, Henry Fielding, Laurence Sterne, Frances Burney, and Ann Radcliffe.
ENG388H5: Spaces of Fiction
Real or imagined geographical locations, landscapes, rooms and houses play an important role in literature. In addition to providing a narrative setting, fictional space might guide our interpretation of plot, serve as a metaphor for broader historical, sociological or psychological issues, or become a character in its own right. Ranging across a variety of literary periods and genres, this course will explore how works of fiction describe space and how these descriptions shape our responses. Authors and texts may range from the early English period to the present day, including Beowulf, Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare, Margaret Cavendish, Jane Austen, Edgar Alan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry James, Virginia Woolf, Daphne du Maurier, Shirley Jackson, Gloria Naylor, Toni Morrison, Arundhati Roy, Amitav Ghosh, V.S. Naipaul, and so on.
ENG390Y5: Individual Studies
A scholarly project chosen by the student and supervised by a faculty member. The form of the project and the manner of its execution will be determined in consultation with the supervisor. All project proposals must be submitted to the Undergraduate Advisor, who can provide proposal forms.
ENG391Y5: Individual Studies - Creative Writing
A project in creative writing chosen by the student and supervised by a faculty member. The form of the project and the manner of its execution will be determined in consultation with the supervisor. All project proposals must be submitted to the Undergraduate Advisor who can provide proposal forms.
ENG392H5: Canadian Fiction
Students will read novels and/or short stories of importance for Canadian literary history: these may include, for example, L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables, Hugh MacLennan's Two Solitudes, Lawrence Hill's Book of Negroes, and Alice Munro's Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage.
ENG393H5: Canadian Poetry in Context
This course gives students a chance to think about the social, historical, and personal circumstances that have produced the work of some major Canadian authors, from the poets of Canadian Confederation to contemporary Black and Indigenous writers such as M. NourbeSe Philip and Rita Joe.
ENG394H5: American Literature from the Revolution to 1900
Students will read a selection of American writings from the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; these may include the stories of Edgar Allan Poe, the poetry of Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson, Harriet Beecher Stowe's novels, and slave narratives such as those of Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs.
ENG395H5: American Literature 1900 to the Present
Students will read a selection of works by American authors as diverse as Edith Wharton, Ernest Hemingway, T.S. Eliot, Sylvia Plath, Harper Lee, Thomas Pynchon, and Jhumpa Lahiri.
ENG396H5: Literary Theory Now
This course will explore some of the most recent, provocative, and significant developments in literary theory, including work in such areas as eco-criticism, literary activism, critical race studies, Indigenous studies, queer and trans studies, and cognitive literary studies.
ENG397H5: Individual Studies
A scholarly project chosen by the student and supervised by a faculty member. The form of the project and the manner of its execution will be determined in consultation with the supervisor. All project proposals must be submitted to the Undergraduate Advisor by May 15 who can provide the proposal form.
ENG398H5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for upper-level students to work on the research project of a professor. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods, and share in the excitement and discovery of creating new knowledge. Professors' project descriptions for the following fall-winter session are posted on the ROP website in mid-February and students are invited to apply at that time. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
ENG399Y5: Research Opportunity Program
For senior undergraduate students who have developed some knowledge of a discipline and its research methods, this course offers an opportunity to work on the research project of a professor. Students enrolled will become involved in original research, develop their research skills, and share in the excitement and discovery of creating new knowledge. Professors' project descriptions for the following fall-winter session are posted on the ROP website in mid-February and students are invited to apply at that time. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
ENG400H5: Capstone Seminar: Writing a Research Project
This course offers specialists and advanced majors an opportunity to do sustained and intensive research on a topic developed in consultation with the instructor. Course instruction will consist of training in various research methodologies, advice and help in putting together reading and research lists, and guided workshops where students can practice drafting, editing, and peer editing as well as comparing notes and research materials.
ENG410H5: Seminar: Critical Game Studies
Advanced study of a topic in critical game studies that addresses urgent and evolving questions in critical approaches to games, e.g., defining games, play and players, game production, violence in games, and the social and pedagogical benefits of games.
ENG414H5: Seminar: Literary Theory / Methods
See department for description.
ENG415H5: Seminar: Literary Theory / Methods
See department for description.
ENG416H5: Seminar: Literary Theory / Methods
See department for description.
ENG424H5: Seminar: Canadian Literature
See department for description.
ENG425H5: Seminar: Canadian Literature
See department for description.
ENG426H5: Seminar: Race, Ethnicity, Diaspora, Indigeneity
See department for description.
ENG434H5: Seminar: Race, Ethnicity, Diaspora, Indigeneity
See department for description.
ENG435H5: Seminar: American Literature
See department for description.
ENG436H5: Seminar: American Literature
See department for description.
ENG460H5: Seminar: Literature Pre-1700
See department for description.
ENG461H5: Seminar: Literature Pre-1700
See department for description.
ENG462H5: Seminar: Literature Pre-1700
See department for description.
ENG463H5: Seminar: Literature 1700-1900
See department for description.
ENG464H5: Seminar: The Story of the Book
This course will introduce students to the history of the book and other technologies of human record. Focusing on the pre- and early modern periods, the course asks the question--what material substances and objects do people use to share imaginative stories? And, what difference can knowing about these make to the history of literature, including literatures in English? The course is partly experiential and collaborative in design. We will learn from one or more present-day book makers: e.g. an Ojibwe maker of birch bark scrolls; or a modern parchment maker or bookbinder. We will visit the Fisher Rare Book Library to see, among others books, one made in 1474 by William Caxton, England’s first printer. And we will collaborate with students working in Forensic Science and Chemistry to use scientific techniques--from advanced microscopy to x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy--to develop and answer humanistic questions about books: e.g. Where did book makers obtain their materials? How have book making technologies--and with them literary texts and traditions--travelled around the globe? What evidence have readers of old books left behind? Underpinning the course is a critical approach to the so-called “Toronto School”--that is, “the theory of the primacy of communication in the structuring of human cultures and the structuring of the human mind.” Is the work of e.g. Harold Innis and Marshall McLuhan relevant to the 21st study of literature? What messages are still readable in the media used by the literary communities of the past?
ENG470H5: Seminar: Literature 1700-1900
See department for description.
ENG471H5: Seminar: Literature 1700-1900
See department for description.
ENG472H5: Seminar: Modern and Contemporary Literature
See department for description.
ENG473H5: Seminar: Modern and Contemporary Literature
See department for description.
ENG489Y5: Creative Writing Workshop
The course allows students to workshop their own creative project/s with the instructor and their peers. Restricted to students who in the opinion of the Department show special aptitude. Detail requirements will be posted in advance of this date. Students should contact the instructor or the Undergraduate Advisor for more information.
ENV100Y5: The Environment
This introductory environmental science course examines large-scale features of Earth, natural hazards, Earth's climate and weather systems, energy and mineral resources, human population growth, extinction and biodiversity, environmental toxins, vanishing soils and expanding deserts, forests, urban environmental management, and food resources. Interdisciplinary interaction among Science, Social Science, and Humanities is a major theme.
ENV201H5: Environmental Management
Environmental management builds on topics discussed in ENV100H5, GGR111H5 and GGR112H5, by focusing on conceptual frameworks and specific tools that can be used to formulate environmental management goals and support decision-making. Case studies will be used throughout to highlight different approaches, focusing primarily on Canadian examples. Topics include ecosystem and adaptive management, environment impact assessments, and the role of stakeholders.
ENV210H5: Sustainability
The United Nations Commission on Environment and Development popularized the term sustainable development in its 1987 report, Our Common Future. How far have we come since then, as a global community, in implementing sustainability as a model for development? In this course we will examine the history, measurement, and present-day models and applications of sustainability and sustainable development in both the public and private spheres. Sustainability is an integrative concept that addresses social, cultural, political, and economic factors within the constraints of the biophysical environment.
ENV299Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their second year to work on a research project with a professor in return for course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Based on the nature of the project, projects may satisfy the Sciences or Social Sciences distribution requirement. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
ENV305H5: Sustainable Tourism
Tourism has long been an important industry around the world, but increasingly questions are being raised regarding the social and environmental sustainability of tourism. This course will look at the impacts (both negative and positive) that tourism has on the natural environment, society, and local economies. It will explore how tourism relates to mobility, globalization, recreation and outdoor activity, planning, the environment, cultural identities, protected areas, and wildlife conservation. This course begins with an introduction to tourism more generally and then focuses in on critical perspectives and the development of eco-tourism, cultural tourism, and volunteer tourism. As part of this course, students may have the option of participating in an international learning experience that will have an additional cost and application process.
ENV311H5: Environmental Issues in the Developing World
The Earth is one, but the world is not. We all depend on one biosphere for sustaining our lives. Yet each community, each country, strives for survival and prosperity with little regard for its impact on others. These are the opening words from the report of the UN World Commission on Environment and Development, which first popularized the concept of sustainable development. In this course we examine 'environment' and 'development' and 'human well-being' as inseparable challenges. We consider global, regional, and local environmental problems from the perspectives of developing nations, and investigate the economic, social, and political roots of these problems.
ENV320H5: Managing Our Waste
Garbage archaeologist William Rathje once said, "Garbage isn't generic junk. It's elements of our behavior all thrown together." The history of human civilization is reflected in what societies have thrown away over the ages. But in recent decades both the quantity and types of waste generated by human activities have changed radically. In this course we will address the philosophical, social, and management challenges associated with waste in Canadian and international contexts, as well as examining some of the technological and scientific aspects of specific waste management problems.
ENV330H5: Experimental Design in Environmental Science
This hands-on course introduces students to field methods and integrative problem solving in environmental sciences. Topics will include sampling methods and protocols employed in terrestrial, aquatic and atmospheric assessment and monitoring, as well as experimental design, data analysis and presentation. Practical sessions will involve outdoor field experiences on campus and neighboring areas.
ENV332H5: Practicum in Environmental Project Management
Solutions to environmental issues depend on interdisciplinary teamwork. This course mimics the practical, multidisciplinary, collaborative work that is highly valued in the environment sector. Students work in teams on semester-long projects addressing a specific environmental issue on campus or in the local community (e.g., conducting a waste audit; developing an educational module for a local NGO, etc.). Specific skills that are developed include; project management and workflow, data collection, report writing and formal presentations. This course is strongly recommended for Specialist and Major students in any of the Environment Programs.
ENV351H5: Comparative Environmental Policy
This course is an introduction to comparative environmental policy. The focus of the course will be comparing different countries' policies on climate change, biodiversity, water, and pollution. Larger themes related to sustainable development and environmental justice will be covered in detail.
ENV356H5: Environmental Justice
Environmental Justice is about the fair treatment of all people in the creation and implementation of environmental policies. It also provides a critical framework to analyze and understand inequalities of an environmental kind. These inequalities are often based around identities of race, class and gender, such that marginalized groups are made to bear the burden of environmental externalities like pollution. Why are First Nations in Canada less likely to have access to safe drinking water? Why are industrial plants often in low-income neighborhoods? After critical examinations of the theories and foundations of environmental justice, this course uses a case study approach to understanding the concepts and the ways in which it has shaped modern society.
ENV393H5: Environmental Assessment
The course focuses on the methodologies for measuring and predicting the impact of development on the bio-physical and socio-economic environments. Topics include environmental assessment, law and institutions, environmental mediation; Phase I, II, III environmental site assessment; monitoring; mitigation; evaluation; and risk assessment. The types of impact assessment (IA) methods examined vary from year to year (e.g. economic IA, ecological IA, social IA).
ENV399Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their second year to work on a research project with a professor in return for course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Based on the nature of the project, projects may satisfy the Sciences or Social Sciences distribution requirement. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
ENV425H5: Managing Urban Ecosystems
This course examines the ways people interact with and manage urban ecosystems. Socio-ecological systems, green infrastructure, environmental justice, ecosystems services, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and sustainability will be discussed in the context of urban ecosystems. Throughout the course, issues associated with bridging the gaps between the social and natural sciences, unique characteristics of urban ecosystems, and the role of individual decision-makers will be considered.
ENV430H5: Environmental Law and Policy
This course introduces students to the challenges and opportunities of environmental law and policy. Students will learn how legal systems can address increasingly complex environmental challenges. This course will include an in-depth look at the toolbox of legal and policy instruments that decision makers have at their disposal to tackle major environmental problems. The focus is primarily Canada though international examples will also be touched upon. Case studies and examples will be used to connect theoretical and legal principals to real world situations.
ENV435H5: Governing the Commons: Communities and Conservation
Common-pool resources (CPRs) include pastures, forests, watersheds, ocean fisheries, traffic, the Internet, and the Earth’s climate. CPRs present a variety of social dilemmas because it is difficult to exclude and prevent resources users from accessing, using, and polluting a resource. Individual self-interest may put CPRs at risk of overuse, overconsumption, and exploitation to result in a “tragedy of the commons” scenario. However resource users across the world, have devised rules and strategies to avoid such tragedies to sustain CPRs over centuries. In this course, through playing games in the classroom, we will learn whether and how theories of collective action, cooperation, and institutions provide insight into achieving conservation of CPRs that delivers on the twin goals of social and environmental justice.
ENV452H5: Politics and Policy of Wildlife Conservation
This course is an in-depth analysis of conservation policy in Canada. The course begins with an overview biodiversity crisis facing the planet and then moves to an overview of Canada's approach to managing biodiversity across the country. We will carefully examine the federal Species at Risk Act as well as the provincial and territorial wildlife legislation. The remaining of the course will be aimed at making improvements to the Canadian strategy. During the course of the semester, the students will focus on the recovery of endangered species in Canada through the development of a recovery strategy for a specific species.
ENV490H5: Special Topics in Environmental Studies
This course highlights various topics of special interest in environmental studies. The specific focus and format of the course will vary, depending on the chosen topic. The course will not be offered every year. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable for details.
ENV491H5: Special Topics in Environmental Studies
These courses highlight various topics of special interest in environmental studies. The specific focus and format of the courses will vary, depending on the chosen topic. The courses will not be offered every year. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable for details.
ENV495H5: Restoration Ecology I
Restoration ecology is an emerging cross-disciplinary field of study that concerns human activities undertaken to promote the recovery, health, integrity and sustainability of degraded ecosystems. This course introduces the fundamental concepts of ecological restoration, addressing topics such as assessing ecosystem health, resilience, resistance and stability; community structure and biodiversity; invasive species; ecosystem processes and functions; societal aspects of ecological restoration (e.g., the relationship between social, economic and environmental sustainability).
ENV496H5: Restoration Ecology II
The follow-up course to Restoration Ecology I, ENV496H5 will build on its theoretical foundations to focus on student involvement in a variety of restoration projects planned or underway by Credit Valley Conservation and other groups in Mississauga and the greater Credit Valley watershed. The emphasis here is on planning and implementation of restoration projects; good scientific design; understanding policies and procedures; identifying and working with stakeholders, etc. Occasional field exercises may be scheduled during regular class meeting times.
ENV497H5: Environmental Research Project
This independent project course is designed to give students experience in the definition and execution of a one-term research study on an environmental topic, under the guidance of a member of the faculty. Students who wish to pursue this option with a specific faculty member or who have an idea for a research project should approach the faculty member early - before the start of the academic term - to negotiate the terms of the project.
ERS101H5: Planet Earth
We discuss the age and origin of the Earth, the nature of its deep interior, the origin of mountains, oceans, earthquakes and volcanoes, and show how these features are related in a unifying theory known as Plate Tectonics, that explains how the evolution of the Earth's surface is driven by internal processes. Practicals will include laboratory exercises devoted to the understanding and recognition of minerals, rocks and geological structures.
ERS111H5: Earth, Climate & Life
Life as we know it is completely dependent on our planet. The Earth is an integrated system, where the ocean, atmosphere, life and planet interact with and affect one another. The evolution of the smallest organisms has drastically changed Earth’s climate, and small changes in Earth’s climate have a profound effect on the distribution of life. Understanding how organisms feed, breath, grow, and reproduce are integral to mitigating large-scale climate changes and organic cycles, and how this will affect the Earth as a system. Processes such as plate tectonics produces an ever changing surface, and has been a major control on how and when life evolved and flourished. After introducing how the Earth works, topics discussed will include how life on Earth has evolved, how large-scale geological processes affect climate and life and how ecosystems have changed in response to weather and climate change. We will also discuss the effect that our species has had on this planet; from the sudden shifts in stability of Earth’s systems, to feedback cycles, to use of resources and sustainability.
ERS121H5: Earth as a Haven: Resources, Sustainability and Civilisation
Through many exceptionally unlikely coincidences, Planet Earth exists in the perfect location for life to flourish. Our civilization is the culmination of over 3.5 billion years of evolution, and we now have the power to change Earth’s systems. This course will explore the reasons why Earth is the perfect planet for life to exist on, and how narrow the range of habitable conditions can be, and how life came to be. It will also discuss how our species evolved, and how the geology of Earth has helped and hindered the growth of civilisations. In particular, this course will cover water, energy and mining resources; how they are formed, how we utilize these resources, and how fragile they are, with an emphasis on sustainable utilization of these resources for the future.
ERS201H5: Earth Materials
To truly understand the Earth, and the rocks that form it, we must study their basic building blocks – minerals. Minerals are all around us; in rocks and sediments, in soils, in our bones and teeth, and in building materials. This course will examine the complex nature of minerals and crystals from a geological, physical and chemical perspective and will introduce the petrology of volcanic rocks, intrusive plutonic rocks, metamorphic rocks formed in the depths of mountain ranges and sedimentary rocks deposited through time. The course will train students in the use of optical mineralogy (rock slices under a microscope); a key analytical method in petrology and by doing so aims to provide students with detailed knowledge and skills inherent to all geologists, and to give a unique perspective of the Earth from the study of the small scale minerals and rocks.
ERS202H5: Dynamic Earth
An introduction to geological time and the dynamic evolution of the surface of the Earth. Lectures discuss the processes involved in the deformation of Earth's crust including mechanical principals, stress, and strain. Particular focus on the structure of rocks. Practical exercises focus on the geometry of rock units and determining the geological history of an area from information presented in geological maps, cross sections, and stereographic projections.
ERS203H5: Magmatic Systems and Igneous Petrology
Deep beneath volcanoes lie magmatic systems where magma is formed and evolves. These systems are directly related to plate tectonics and the structure and chemistry of the Earth. This course will study these systems – how they are formed, and why they evolve, as well as what they lead to; volcanic eruptions. This course will use rock specimens, thin sections and geochemistry to study igneous rocks and processes, and will link these processes to the wider tectonic controls on magmatic systems, as well as to metamorphic rocks that are often seen in conjunction with magmatic systems.
ERS211H5: Sedimentology and Stratigraphy
Sedimentology and stratigraphy concerns the origin, formation, accumulation, alteration, and preservation of sediments in the geological record. This course will focus on the reconstruction, correlation, and interpretation of ancient carbonate and siliciclastic paleoenvironments and facies based on the analysis of sedimentary structures, depositional environments, stratigraphic successions, and fossils. The interplay between biological and geological factors responsible for sedimentary deposits will form the core of the course, including the physical transport and biological accumulation of sediments, the effects of climate-driven sea-level change on sediment deposition, the importance of resource management and sustainability. This course will include a laboratory component with hand samples, thin sections, and physical models, in addition to a field trip, allowing for first-hand experience with describing and interpreting sedimentological units.
ERS225H5: Earth as a Laboratory: How Earth Scientists Study Our Planet (Field Course)
Fieldwork is at the heart of being an Earth Scientist. The Earth is a natural laboratory, and the best place to study it is outdoors on the outcrops. Skills gained during fieldwork are key as part of an Earth Scientist’s toolbox, and are highly regarded in a career. This course introduces fieldwork to students during a week-long fieldtrip in late August looking at outcrops of igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks around Ontario, teaching critical field methods employed by Earth Scientists to understand our planet. Methods taught will include basic geological observation, description and interpretation, the collection of field notes, geological measurements and presentation of collected data. Enrolment approval into the course is by application only, and requires an addition course fee which covers accomodation, transport, geological equipment and some food costs. Registration on ACORN is required; priority will be given to Earth Science Specialists and Majors. Please see the UTM CPS Earth Science Fieldtrip page for more information.
ERS299Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This courses provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their second year to work in the research project of a professor in return for 299Y course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
ERS301H5: Geochemistry
Since the creation of the Solar System and Earth 4.5 billion years ago, Earth’s natural processes have differentiated the chemical elements, generating distinct differences in composition between the oceans and the atmosphere, and Earth’s crust, mantle and core. These differences allow Earth Scientists to understand and quantify these processes, as well as track the rocks and deposits formed out of these processes. This course will focus on the application of geochemistry to understand Earth processes, such as the generation of magma and volcanic eruptions, the formation of ore bodies, the role of oxygen in ocean sediments, common analytical methods employed in Earth Science and the use of isotopes to track changes to Earth over time.
ERS302H5: Tectonics
This course will focus on how the plate tectonic system works, from the composition and structure of the earth, to the evolution of plate tectonics through Earth history, to modern tectonic hazards including earthquakes and volcanoes. A major portion of the course will focus on the analysis and interpretation of major structural provinces as they relate to Earth's plate boundary interactions including convergent, divergent, and transform settings.
ERS303H5: Geophysics
How do Earth scientists explore the Earth’s interior? What methods do they use to understand our planet’s physical properties? This course will focus on key geophysical concepts and techniques essential for studying the interior of the Earth and the theory of Plate Tectonics. Major topics include gravity, isostasy, magnetism, heat flow, and seismology. Students will learn to apply fundamental geophysical equations to address real-life geoscience problems. They will also be introduced to commonly used applied-geophysical techniques for subsurface sensing, covering instrument operation, data collection and interpretation, as well as applications in resource exploration, engineering, and environmental studies.
ERS304H5: Geological Remote Sensing
This course is an introduction to remote sensing technologies and geological applications. Students will learn about imaging of the Earth by electromagnetic waves and the state-of-the-art remote sensing systems and technologies for geological mapping and exploration. Topics may include remote sensing fundamentals and physical principles, remote sensing systems for geological applications, geological mapping and resource exploration. Students will also acquire skills in image processing, data integration, information extraction, and validation for geological applications.
ERS311H5: Sedimentology and Basin Analysis
This course will focus on principles of correlation, facies concepts, dynamic processes, and their geologic records in modern and ancient sedimentary environments, with focus on basins. Factors that influence sedimentary formation and evolution will be investigated, including sea level and sediment supply. Emphasis will be placed on sequence stratigraphic approaches to the evaluation of sedimentary systems. Sustainable management of oil, water, and gas resources within sedimentary basins will be covered.
ERS312H5: Oceanography
The world’s oceans cover approximately 70% of the Earth Surface and Canada has extensive coastlines along three major ocean basins. This course will provide a broad understanding of chemical, biological, physical and geologic aspects of the oceans. In addition, this course will offer an insight into the paleoceanographic evolution of our planet and present-day environmental threats such as pollution, habitat destruction, acidification and ocean warming. Even though this course does not include specific lab or tutorial sessions, relevant exercises will be included.
ERS315H5: Environmental Geology
Despite civilization’s dependence on nature for energy, food, and water, human activity has severely affected the environment in recent centuries. Particularly, the use of energy is significantly impacting our planet via resource extraction, climate change and pollution of the atmo-, bio-, hydro-, and geosphere. While some environmental impacts will be diminished as part of the ongoing carbon-free energy transition, the use of alternative energies can also lead to negative environmental consequences. This course studies the relationship between fossil fuels, nuclear and renewable energy and environment on a broad scale discussing topics such as mining, water pollution, nuclear waste management, climate change, and geoengineering.
ERS325H5: Field Camp I
This course, held on the north shore of Lake Huron in the summer, covers crucial geological field skill in an authentic field-based learning environment in order to interpret ancient geological environments. The course occurs over approx. 12 days of field instruction. The course covers an overview of the regional geology at Whitefish Falls, Ontario, including Manitoulin Island, Elliot Lake and Sudbury. Students will also before engaging in a small group mapping projects in which geologic maps of a defined region will be assembled over 5-6 days of student-led field work.
Note: U of T Mississauga students must register in the Summer Session, and provide consent waivers and the course fee to the Earth Science Lab & Field Coordinator in the Department of Chemical and Physical Sciences. This course fee is in addition to tuition, and covers accommodation, geological field gear and transport (but does not include any food). This field camp is usually held in early May. The registration deadline is in early March. For specific yearly course information, please see the UTM CPS Earth Science Fieldtrip page for more information on dates, required field gear and other information.
ERS381H5: Special Topics in Earth Sciences
A survey of current thinking in Earth science. Topics may include obtaining data in the field or lab and analyzing it, an interdisciplinary research project, and supervised readings. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
ERS399Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for third or higher year students to work on the research project of a professor in earth sciences in return for 399Y course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, enhance their research skills and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project description for the following summer and fall/winter session on the ROP website in mid-February and students are invited to apply at that time. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
ERS401H5: Earth Resources
Our modern civilisation is dependent on resources. These include energy resources (such as oil and natural gas), metallic resources (such as iron, copper or gold) or building resources (such as gravel or limestone). Resource deposits require specific conditions to form on Earth as a result of processes such as plate tectonics, magma differentiation and hydrothermal fluids. Exploration geologists target potential resource sites, while mining and engineering geologists seek to extract the resource via mines or rigs. This course will explore the processes which lead to ore or resource deposits forming in Earth's crust, explain the mechanisms through which we are able to extract those resources and convert them into useable metals or energy sources, and explore the economics which control the resource markets.
ERS402H5: Advanced Structural Geology
This course will cover stress, strain and rheology, the analysis and interpretation of structural features in complexly folded and faulted strata and in plutonic and metamorphic rocks, and basic rock mechanics. Methods include strain analysis, stereographic projection, construction of balanced cross-sections, and geomorphometry.
ERS403H5: Earthquake Seismology
Why do earthquakes occur and how do they cause damage? What is a seismogram and what can it tell us about earthquakes and the Earth’s structure? Earthquakes tend to strike suddenly and without warning. Because of their destructive power, tremendous efforts and monetary resources are dedicated to advancing earthquake science and designing effective hazard mitigation controls. This course will provide an overview of the physics of earthquakes and seismic wave propagation, and current seismic hazard mitigation plans and policies. Concepts covered in this course include stress and strain relations, elastic wave equation, body and surface waves, seismic instrumentation and data, global earth structure, seismic source theory, earthquake mechanics, ground motion, earthquake recurrence models, seismic hazard analysis, and human-induced earthquakes. Students will learn to apply basic math and physics concepts to solve seismological problems. They will also gain hands-on experience in analyzing and interpreting seismic data using computational tools.
ERS404H5: Volcanology
Volcanic eruptions are one of the most dangerous and volatile geological hazard. In the 20th Century, almost 100,000 people are believed to have been killed in volcanic eruptions, with another 4.7 million directly affected by them, but, at the end of the 20th century, over 500 million people lived within the hazard zone of a volcano worldwide; cities such as Tokyo, Mexico City, Naples and Seattle are besieged by the threat of nearby volcanoes. Volcanoes also provide fertile soils, near-unlimited geothermal power generation potential and are an intricate part of the Earth system. This course aims to study the mechanism through which volcanoes form on Earth and other rocky planets, the circumstances that trigger eruptions, the processes which cause eruptions to change and evolve, and their impact on our society.
ERS411H5: Paleobiology
This course will focus on the evolving history of organisms and their ecosystems on Earth, including aspects of geochemistry and taphonomy. This course will investigate the interactions between Earth and Life over the past 3.5 billion years, emphasizing how the paleontological record is used to understand the complex nature of our evolving Earth.
ERS412H5: Climate Through Time
The goals of this course are to discuss the geologic record of climate change and present an overview of the methods used to reconstruct the earth's climate history and the techniques used to determine the timing of environmental changes. Topics to be addressed will include paleoclimatic reconstruction, climate and climatic variation, dating methods, and climate proxies. In addition, periods of past climate change will be highlighted with particular emphasis on climate change during the recent past. This will be put into perspective with modern day and future global change.
ERS425H5: Geology of North America
This course will provide students with a first-hand field exposure to geologic outcrops in North America, where knowledge gained during classroom instruction throughout their studies can be applied to textbook examples of a variety of real-world geologic features. The course is structured around one major field trip during one of the Summer terms, where student-led work on rock outcrops is performed (including presentations while in the field) and the preparation of field reports after the trip. There is a nonrefundable course fee associated with this course beyond tuition, which covers accomodation and travel. Students must register on ROSI, on a first-come first-serve and non-refundable deposit basis. The deposit must be received by the Department within one week from the first day of enrollment or the student will be dropped automatically from the course. Information about the course will be released during the Winter term on the CPS Field Trip webpage.
ERS471H5: Research Project
Arrangements for these independent research projects must be made with an Earth Science Faculty member prior to registration. This course requires the student to submit a completed application to the CPS Undergraduate Assistant. Registration in the course is required. The application form can be downloaded from www.utm.utoronto.ca/cps/undergraduate/ resources/independent-studies-application-form. Copies of the completed report must be submitted one week prior to the end of term classes. Students may take both ERS471H5 and ERS472H5 in the same term. A component of the mark will be based on an oral presentation made at the end of the course.
ERS472H5: Research Project
Arrangements for these independent research projects must be made with an Earth Science Faculty member prior to registration. This course requires the student to submit a completed application to the CPS Undergraduate Assistant. Registration in the course is required. The application form can be downloaded from www.utm.utoronto.ca/cps/undergraduate/ resources/independent-studies-application-form. Copies of the completed report must be submitted one week prior to the end of term classes. Students may take both ERS471H5 and ERS472H5 in the same term. A component of the mark will be based on an oral presentation made at the end of the course.
ERS499Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for a fourth or higher year students to work on the research project of a professor in Earth Science in return for 499Y5 course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, enhance their research skills and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project description for the following summer and fall/winter session on the ROP website in mid-February and students are invited to apply at that time. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
FAH101H5: Introduction to Art History
An overview of the art and architecture of the past and present, as well as an introduction to the discipline of art history and its methodologies. Emphasis on representative monuments and key approaches to interpretation.
FAH205H5: Art in Antiquity
This course offers a survey of the arts of antiquity. Emphasis is placed on major works of sculpture, painting, and architecture. Decorative arts are also treated.
FAH215H5: Early Medieval Art and Architecture
An overview of major monuments and themes in the art and architecture of Western Europe and the Mediterranean World from the third until the eleventh century.
FAH216H5: Later Medieval Art and Architecture
An overview of major monuments and themes in the art and architecture of Western Europe and the Mediterranean World from the eleventh through the fifteenth century.
FAH274H5: Renaissance Art and Architecture
A selective survey of the major art centres, types of artistic production, personalities, and trends in Italy and the North, from the early fifteenth century to the mid-sixteenth. The creation and diffusion of art are addressed through an understanding of historical techniques (media), cultural determinants such as patronage, and significant works of art.
FAH275H5: Introduction to Indigenous Art in Canada
This survey course will introduce students to the advanced technological and innovative material contributions of Indigenous cultural knowledge towards the reshaping of Canadian Culture, Identity and Art today; beginning with the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nations. Specificity of place, nation, geographical territory, the intervention of colonial government policy, and social movements will be reviewed as they relate to the creation and collection of Indigenous art and established art markets. Object and image making, new technologies, performance art, ceremony, land, hunting, activism, social engagement, and community arts will be covered, as will fashion, dance, song, and storytelling.
FAH279H5: Baroque Art and Architecture
An introduction to art and society in Europe, ca. 1600 to ca. 1800 CE. Tensions between the Catholic Church and Protestantism; the rise of powerful, competing courts; the growth of increasingly complex urban centres; and the entry of the "wider public" into the art market all create new roles for representation in Europe. Developments in painting, prints, sculpture, architecture, urban planning, and festivals are considered.
FAH281H5: An Introduction to Islamic Art and Architecture
This course surveys art and architecture of the Islamic worlds, beginning with the emergence of Islam in the seventh century. It examines works of art ranging from the monumental (palaces, mosques, shrines) to the portable (textiles, jewelry, books), spanning the Islamic world from Spain to Central and East Asia. A range of materials and artistic techniques will be considered, as will several religious and secular contexts and different patterns in patronage and workshop production.
FAH282H5: Gardens, Homes, and Palaces in the Muslim World
How did Muslims live in the pre-modern world, and, how did they interact with their surrounding environment? This course introduces examples of homes, palaces, and gardens dating from the 8th to the 18th centuries. The course includes examples from the Arab world, Turkey, Iran, and South Asia.
FAH285H5: Art and Religion
An introduction to the art of the major world religions (examples will mostly be taken from Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam but may also extend to Judaism, Buddhism, and religions of indigenous peoples), examining debates within these traditions around the status of the image as well as the relationship of religious images with the secular notion of 'art.'
FAH287H5: European Art of the Nineteenth Century
Surveys major developments in European art and architecture from the late eighteenth through the end of the nineteenth century, including Neoclassicism, Romanticism, Orientalism, Realism, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, and Symbolism. Artistic responses to political change, urbanisation, capitalism, colonialism, the Academy, and the Salon will be explored as well as changing constructions of gender, race, class, and national identities through visual media.
FAH288H5: European and North American Art of the Earlier Twentieth Century
Surveys principal developments in modern art and architecture from the late 19th century through 1945. Topics covered include key movements, such as Fauvism, Expressionism, Cubism, Futurism, Constructivism, Suprematism, de Stijl, Dada, and Surrealism, and key concepts, such as the avant-garde, abstraction, the readymade, the unconscious, and the primitive. Readings include manifestos and other writings by artists as well as art historical texts.
FAH289H5: Art Since 1945
Examines many divergent international art movements and controversies in painting, sculpture, video, installation art, performance, and other new forms, from 1945 to the present.
FAH290H5: Topics in Modern Art and Architecture
An examination of a topic in modern art and or architecture. Topics vary from year to year; the content in any given year depends upon the instructor.
FAH291H5: History of Photography
Examines the history of photography in Euro-American visual culture and explores how this medium of mass communication has transformed our perceptions and conceptions of art, society, and culture over the past two centuries. Reviews key imagemakers and areas of production concluding with the impact of digital imaging.
FAH292H5: Canadian Art
This course examines the history of art produced in Canada, from the pre-contact period to today. Diverse visual traditions and their intersections will be studied, as will the changing roles of art in Canadian society.
FAH295H5: Topics in Art History
An examination of a topic in art history. Topics vary from year to year; the content in any given year depends upon the instructor.
FAH299Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their second year to work on the research project of a professor in return for 299Y course credit.Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods, and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge.Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
FAH301H5: History and Practices of Visual Resource Collecting
This course investigates the theoretical and philosophical bases and practical realities of digitizing the visual arts in the context of scholarly research, collection development, publishing, information studies and education in the global environment. Students will examine the historical development and impact of digitization on image collecting as well as current practices and issues facing professionals. A practical, hands-on approach will be an essential part of the course.
FAH310H5: Curating Matters: Contexts and Issues in Contemporary Curatorial Practice
This course will introduce students to the major critical texts, theories, and debates circulating in the burgeoning international field of contemporary curatorial studies. The course will include lectures, case studies, practice-related assignments, encounters with artists and art professionals, and student presentations that are intended to raise issues and engage debate about contemporary exhibition practices and account for theoretical perspectives and historical context. One objective of this course is to trouble preconceptions of the role of the curator in order to observe the complexity of curatorial models across and beyond art institutions. The class will address the implications of shifting cultural, social, and political contexts for artistic and curatorial practice and their sites.
FAH315H5: Photomontage: History, Theory, and Practice
This course investigates the history, theory, and practice of photomontage from its roots in combination printing in the mid-19th century to its key role in the modernist "isms of art"
in Europe and North America including Dada, Surrealism, Constructivism, and the Bauhaus to the rise of digital photomontage in the current Photoshop era. It explores a range of practices and applications of photomontage in avant-garde art, commercial advertising, mass media, humorous satire, propaganda, and political activism.
FAH317H5: Spirit Photography
From the haunted images of William Mumler in the 1860’s to contemporary manifestations of digital ghost hunting, the search for elusive and invisible spirits by means of the camera lens has been an ongoing preoccupation in the history of photography for over 150 years. Starting with the emergence of phantasmagoric visual entertainments (ca. 1800), this course reviews this rich and fascinating history in Europe and North America but also with a few non-Western cultural examples (e.g., Japan, Philippines) focusing on key case studies in spirit photographic practice. The course considers various reasons why people have wanted to believe in the veracity of these phenomena (e.g., followers of the religious movement of Spiritualism) as well as why others have wanted to debunk spirit photography as a hoax or fraud (e.g., Harry Houdini and P.T. Barnum). Exploring theories derived from deconstruction and psychoanalysis, we seek to understand the philosophical and psychological significance of spirit photography introducing constructs such as hauntology, spectrality, the uncanny, and the work of mourning. The course also reviews how contemporary artists (e.g., Oursler, Beloff) have incorporated motifs and themes related to spirit photography in their works.
FAH329H5: Early Christian Art and Architecture
Examines art and architecture during the emergence of Christianity in the West until ca. 600, focusing primarily on Italy. Assesses the connections between polytheistic, imperial Roman art and new Christian traditions in a variety of media, including mosaics, metalwork, wall painting, and sculpture. Also considers the role of primary texts in the interpretation of Early Christian art.
FAH332H5: Studies in Baroque Painting
Thematically organized treatment of major figures (Caravaggio, Carracci, Poussin) in the context of art theory and viewer response.
FAH337H5: Court Art and Patronage in the Middle Ages
Art and architecture of royal and imperial families from ca. 800 to 1400 in western Europe, including Norman, Capetian, Plantagenet, and Hohenstaufen dynasties. Topics include the role of courts in the development and diffusion of new styles, and monuments as expressions of piety, chivalry, and political propaganda. May be taken for credit for the Specialist/Major programs in Architecture (St. George).
FAH338H5: Multicultural Middle Ages
This course examines medieval works of art and architecture that challenge long-held ideas about the European Middle Ages as monocultural and exclusively Christian. It considers the mobility of people, objects, and ideas through migration, trade, diplomacy, conquest, and pilgrimage, and focuses on particular places where multiculturalism flourished, including Spain, Sicily, and Venice. It also evaluates multiculturalism from different eras, from the Middle Ages to the contemporary world, to better understand its different meanings and manifestations, as well as its impact on art history.
FAH343H5: Pilgrimage
Examines the experience of pilgrimage from an interdisciplinary perspective, with focus on major Christian and Islamic shrines in the Middle Ages. Considers monuments associated with sites such as Santiago, Jerusalem, and Mecca, as well as objects collected by pilgrims. May be taken for credit for the Specialist/Major programs in Religion (U of T Mississauga), Christianity & Culture (St. George), and Architecture (St. George).
FAH351H5: Gothic Architecture
Study of origins, architecture and decoration of the Gothic Cathedral in the Ile-de-France, treating function and symbolism, intellectual and social contexts, and initial diffusion of the style to other countries. Considers post-medieval Gothic as well.
FAH353H5: The sculptor-architect GianLorenzo Bernini
Topics in the sculpture, architecture, methods and biographical legacy of the principal 17th-century artist of the Roman baroque, GianLorenzo Bernini. Focus of the course changes from year to year. May be taken for credit for the Specialist/Major programs in Religion (U of T Mississauga), Christianity & Culture (St. George), and Architecture (St. George).
FAH356H5: Colonial Latin American Art and Architecture
This lecture course will examine processes of cultural transfer and transformation in the planning of cities, churches, and viceregal palaces from the early days of contact through the Baroque in the Viceroyalties of Mexico and Peru and in Brasil. The persistence of indigenous beliefs and forms will be tracked in painting, sculpture, and architecture alongside the emergence of unique genres (i.e., castas, feather paintings), building types, and forms based on the particular makeup of a colonial society.
FAH360H5: Art and Visual Culture of the Eighteenth Century
This course examines European painting, sculpture, architecture, landscape architecture, print culture, decorative arts, exhibition strategies, and art criticism of the eighteenth century. Key artists and writers to be studied from the age of enlightenment and revolution include Blake, Burke, David, Diderot, Fragonard, Girodet, Goya, Hogarth, Reynolds, Vigée-Lebrun, Watteau, Winckelmann, Boullée, Ledoux and Wright of Derby.
FAH362H5: Modern Craft
This course examines ideas, practices, and politics of craft that have emerged in the modern period in response to the industrial and digital revolutions, and other significant social and political changes. Topics covered include the place of craft in modern and contemporary art; gendered, classed, and raced understandings of craft; craft’s relationship to the environment; and Indigenous perspectives and practices.
FAH375H5: All Our Relations: Indigenous Land Stewardship and Art
This class embraces land- and earth-based skills as tools in the production and maintenance of revitalization efforts in Indigenous culture and knowledge. Throughout the course students will lead the development, production and maintenance of a Community Medicine Garden initiative to be located in the heart of the UTM campus. Topics include environmental liberation, food sovereignty, kinship, gardening as resistance, matriarchy, land stewardship, landscaping with regional indigenous plants, Indigenous feminisms, place-based knowledge and knowledge sharing. Activities will include: film screenings, community feasts, public readings, drumming circles, and guests speakers with Traditional Indigenous knowledge carriers, artists, environmental activists, and local grassroots community-based partners.
FAH380H5: New Genres in Contemporary Art
A study of artistic genres in contemporary art, including: video, performance, installation, site-specificity and digital media. Such new genres will be studied as alternative modes of artistic practice collaborative, ephemeral, institutionally critical, and discursive, and as a means to address questions and issues such as public space, community, networks of information, and global capitalism and activism.
FAH382H5: Artists and Craftsmen from the Muslim World
What do we know about the pre-modern artists of the Muslim world? This course explores the lives or artist from the Muslim world and what we know about their education, status, styles, techniques and influences. The course includes examples of a calligrapher, a painter, a metalworker, a ceramicist, and an architect.
FAH383H5: Cities in the Early modern Muslim World: Istanbul, Isfahan, and Delhi
This course explores the three major cities of the pre-modern Muslim empires: Istanbul under the Ottomans, Isfahan under the Safavids, and Delhi under the Mughals. The course addresses the urban formation, architectural style, and visual symbolism of these cities.
FAH385H5: Modern and Contemporary Art of India
This course traces a chronology of South Asian art from its genealogies in late colonial image-making traditions from the 1850s to the present, situating modernist 'high' art in terms of its conversation with the broader field of cultural practice in modern India: cinema, vernacular bazaar prints, rural and tribal craft traditions, practices of popular devotion, and 'classical' artistic traditions. It investigates the theoretical and political concerns animating South Asian cultural practices and their criticism (nationalism, Marxism, secularism, anti-fundamentalism, Islam, feminism, postcolonialism, issues of diaspora and globalization), and addresses the key question of how to approach practices of modernism and postmodernism in the postcolony.
FAH388H5: Theory in Art History
Investigates the historical development of the Western discipline of art history through the theories that have shaped it; topics covered include formalism, semiotics, psychoanalysis, the social history of art, feminism, post-colonialism, queer studies and deconstruction.
FAH390H5: Topics in Modern Art and Architecture
An examination of a topic in modern art and or architecture. Topics vary from year to year; the content in any given year depends upon the instructor. This will be a lecture course for approximately 30 students.
FAH392H5: Topics in Modern Art/Architecture
An examination of a topic in modern art and or architecture. Topics vary from year to year; the content in any given year depends upon the instructor. This will be a lecture course for approximately 30 students.
FAH393H5: Topics in Ancient Greco-Roman Art
An examination of a topic in the art and architecture of classical antiquity. Topics vary from year to year; the area of study and content in any given year depends upon the instructor. This will be a lecture course for approximately 30 students.
FAH394H5: Topics in Early Modern Art and Architecture
An in-depth examination of a topic in early modern (Renaissance and/or Baroque) art and/or architecture. Topics vary from year to year, and the content in any given year depends upon the instructor. A seminar course limited to approx. 30 students.
FAH395H5: Topics in Islamic Art and Architecture
An examination of a topic in Islamic art and or architecture. Topics vary from year to year; the content in any given year depends upon the instructor. This will be a lecture course for approximately 30 students.
FAH396H5: Topics in Medieval Art and Architecture
An examination of a topic in medieval art and or architecture. Topics vary from year to year; the content in any given year depends upon the instructor. This will be a lecture course for approximately 30 students.
FAH399Y5: Research Opportunity Program (ROP)
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their third year or beyond to work on the research project of a professor in art history/theory in return for 399Y course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, enhance their research skills, and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter session on the ROP website in mid-February and students are invited to apply at that time. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
FAH415H5: Theory and Criticism of Photography
Introduces a variety of approaches for interpreting, criticizing, evaluating, and theorizing photographs and photography in general. Examines how the thinking of photography is revisioned via major theoretical models.
FAH423H5: Topics in the Art of the Medieval Mediterranean
Examines the art and architecture of the Mediterranean basin, including Western Christian, Byzantine, Islamic, and Jewish art, from the first century through the fifteenth. Considers their points of convergence as well as their distinct differences and priorities. Organized around key works of scholarship that have defined the emerging field of Mediterranean studies, along with primary sources. Considers works in all media, from monumental arts to textiles, metalwork, manuscripts, and ceramics. Also makes use of local museum holdings.
FAH424H5: Medieval Collecting and Display
This course examines collections of medieval art assembled during the Middle Ages and today. It considers the formation of collections within religious and secular institutions of the Middle Ages (treasuries), and the ways in which objects entered such collections through diplomacy, war, dowries, wills, and new commissions. It examines how the collections expressed historical memory, family ties, religious ideas, and political ideologies, and how the objects were displayed. The course also examines collections of medieval art in the GTA, including those at the Aga Khan Museum, Art Gallery of Ontario, Royal Ontario Museum, and University of Toronto Art Centre. A variety of methodologies will be explored, including Digital Humanities.
FAH434H5: Art and Architecture of Medieval Rome
This seminar examines the art and architecture of Rome from the first century CE through the fourteenth. It focuses on the city's art and image in the wake of Christianization and its often ambivalent attitudes toward its classical past. Works in all media, from large-scale churches, wall paintings, and icons will be considered, along with liturgical arts and manuscripts. Medieval texts will figure prominently as well.
FAH435H5: Women and Art in the Middle Ages
An interdisciplinary study, including feminist analysis, of the roles of women in the Middle Ages, their representation in medieval art, and their impact on varying aspects of the art as subject, object, patron or artist.
FAH451H5: Curating Now: Turning Concepts into Curatorial Projects
Students will research and develop a curatorial project proposal in the form of an exhibition, a public installation, a public event, a performance, a website, etc., as the culminating assignment for the course. The emphasis of the course will be on the application of knowledge gained in FAH310H5 and consideration of the multi-level preparatory stages entailed in the mounting of a curatorial project, placing particular emphasis on conceptualization and methodology, and on the premise that curatorial practice is an intellectual endeavour that manifests its ideas in form. Students will learn how to turn a concept into a project proposal and become equipped to develop innovative solutions to future challenges in curatorial practice.
FAH453H5: The Archive and the Formless
This course is a study of twentieth-century and contemporary art history that draws upon philosophies of the archive (as the formalization of knowledge in terms of origins and ends) and the formless (as a deconstructive force of these very same knowledge formations). Through close readings of key texts by Georges Bataille, Sigmund Freud, Walter Benjamin, Jacques Derrida, and Giorgio Agamben, an understanding of the complex interrelations between the archive and the formless, and their bearing upon twentieth-century and contemporary art history is developed.
FAH454H5: Contemporary Jewish Art
This course examines the significance of the visual arts for the study of contemporary Jewish culture, for the construction of Jewish identities, and as an example of Jewish secularization. It does so through a survey of contemporary Jewish artistic production and visual expression with numerous and comparative examples drawn from producers in North America, Europe, and Israel. In addition, the course is attuned to the social and political dimensions and implications of contemporary Jewish art making. It will be organized thematically and cover a range of topics from the challenges faced by visual artists grappling with the Second Commandment and its prohibition of images to the continuing impact of the idea of diaspora on contemporary Jewish artists. The course will also situate its subject matter in relation to larger debates about the emergence of postmodern subjectivities and the place (or displacement) of religion and religious themes in contemporary art in general.
FAH455H5: Photography and Humour
What makes a photograph funny? What are the ways in which photography as a visual and narrative medium induces laughter and provides amusement? This course explores such questions by focusing on major photographic genres and humorists (e.g., Weegee, Parr, Heartfield, Fontcuberta) and by analyzing key historical and contemporary images that mock conventional assumptions about the nature of photography and its claims to truth, identity, and reference. The course will be structured as a seminar featuring directed discussion and class presentations.
FAH457H5: Exile and Modern Art
Investigates the role of exile, expatriation, and alienation in art of the late 19th and 20th centuries. Considering the idea of psychological and/or physical displacement as key to the condition of modernity and the formation of artistic modernisms, the course analyzes artistic strategies of representing, coping with, and/or enacting displacement and alienation (of the artist, the viewer, the object) in the work of Gauguin, Dada artists, Pollock, Morimura, Hatoum, Wodiczko, Whiteread, and others.
FAH458H5: Materials of Modern Art
This course examines materials that have played a role in the making of the modern world as well as modern art. Some are of comparatively recent invention; others are ancient but acquired new significance in the global circuits of economic modernity and the changing aesthetic concerns of modern artists. Ranging across vegetable, animal, and mineral matter(s), we will consider materials’ role in racial capitalism as well as art history; their technical properties and attendant conservation issues; their poetics; and their agencies and animacies.
FAH460H5: Art and Animacy
This seminar examines the age-old dream of creating animate art, from lifelike paintings and moving statues to automata and androids. In addition to tracing historical shifts in the way Western culture has imagined its artificial counterparts through works of literature, fine arts, and film, a major focus of the course will be the effect these creations have on conceptions of the human. Readings include Castle, Dick, Freud, Hawthorne, Hoffman, Shelley, Stafford, Ovid, and Villiers de I'lsle-Adam.
FAH462H5: Islamic Art and the Museum
This course explores how museum displays construct cultural narratives for the consumption of the viewer. It focuses on Islamic art. By examining recent (21st-century) Islamic art museums and gallery installations in North America and Europe, the course addresses the topics of art collecting, orientalism, the colonial gaze, Islamophobia, and the current visual narratives of Islam and Muslims through the arts.
In the first part of the course students are introduced to Islamic art through the collections of some of the main international museums including the British Museum (BM) in the UK, the Louvre in France, the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in Canada, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET) in New York. Students will explore the ways in which Islamic art galleries and exhibitions have evolved to reflect academic approaches including post-colonial and object studies. Students will then use the skills acquired in the course and on-line museum collections to develop and propose an Islamic art exhibition thus experiencing the process of developing an object-based narrative, writing it, presenting it, as well as responding to peer review.
FAH465H5: Icon, Artwork, Fetish
This seminar explores the conceptual categories of icon, artwork and fetish in order to think about the frames of value, desire and power within which images circulate, and the ongoing relationships between art, religion, and commerce. Readings drawn from critical theory, art history, anthropology, religious studies, film studies and psychoanalysis will prepare students to research case studies on the transcultural and transdisciplinary careers of particular objects/images of their choosing.
FAH470H5: The History of Art History
An introduction for advanced students in art history to the historiography and institutional history of the discipline of art history. This reading-intensive course will focus on major figures and key texts from the 19th century to the present, including Burckhardt, Wölfflin, Riegl, Warburg, Panofsky, Hauser, Baxandall, Schapiro, Alpers, Clarke, Nochlin, and others.
FAH472H5: Early Modern Mobile Objects
This course concerns the global circulation of objects or things in the early modern world (ca. 1500-1700) when new trade routes brought about an unprecedented mobilization of artifacts of visual culture, foodstuffs and other goods. We will be concerned with the manifold appearances of uprooted objects, new arrangements, and the invisible layers of skill, materials, and manufacture that resulted from heightened exchange. Objects of study will range broadly: porcelain, tableware and foodstuffs, screens and silver, naturalia and their elaborate mounts, miniatures, prints and books, paintings (Dutch Still Life, Las Meninas) which put the world of things on display.
FAH473H5: The Nature of Landscape
This seminar takes a historical and comparative view of"landscape" as the representation of land, situating it within European ideas about "nature" and its relationship to ideas about who we are as humans. It compares Western landscape painting traditions with visual forms from other traditions that could be seen as "landscapes," but might be based on very different ideas. These include Indigenous art from Canada, as well as East and South Asian forms.Understanding these multiple traditions equips students fora more globally oriented, historically informed, and critical approach to modern and contemporary art concerned with the environment and our existence in the geological age lately dubbed the Anthropocene. The seminar readings provide the basis for final research papers pertaining to the broad theme of landscape or eco-aesthetics in modern or contemporary art, as well as in other image practices across a range of global traditions.
FAH474H5: The Technical Study of Art
This 4th-year seminar explores collaborations between art historians, conservators and material scientists in the technical study of works of art, especially of the early modern period. With ever more portable and effective means (like X-Radiography and 3D Scanning) that allow us to study the material composition and the inner structures and layers of works of art, the technical study of art has become an important new direction in art history. This course will situate technical art history (also known as technical studies) in the discipline, tracing its rise in the early 20th century as a new scientifically-based discipline that was distinguished from the traditional and intuitive practice of connoisseurship.
FAH475H5: Topics in Contemporary Indigenous Art
A senior research and creation seminar exploring topics that advance conversations in Contemporary Indigenous art. This course will look at a selection of influential Canadian and International Indigenous Art projects by living artists as case studies. Topic will vary with faculty research interests; the course may cover such matters as environmental justice, accountability in accomplice-building between Indigenous and non-indigenous artists, and the influence of social movements in shaping local and international conversations on Indigenous Art and culture from Alcatraz and Idle No More to Standing Rock. May include a practical workshop component. May include a research, curatorial or art project.
FAH479H5: Studies in Curatorial Practice
Students who have demonstrated unusual ability in earlier years will be encouraged to undertake, under the supervision of one or more staff members, special research projects culminating in a major research paper. Not more than two half-courses in Independent Studies may be taken in a single year. Students must have written consent of their faculty supervisor(s) and the undergraduate counsellor before registering.
FAH480H5: Studies in Ancient Art
Students who have demonstrated unusual ability in earlier years will be encouraged to undertake, under the supervision of one or more staff members, special research projects culminating in a major research paper. Students must have written consent of their faculty supervisor(s) and the undergraduate counsellor before registering.
FAH481H5: Studies in Ancient Art
Students who have demonstrated unusual ability in earlier years will be encouraged to undertake, under the supervision of one or more staff members, special research projects culminating in a major research paper. Students must have written consent of their faculty supervisor(s) and the undergraduate counsellor before registering.
FAH482H5: Studies in Medieval Art
Students who have demonstrated unusual ability in earlier years will be encouraged to undertake, under the supervision of one or more staff members, special research projects culminating in a major research paper. Not more than two half-courses in Independent Studies may be taken in a single year. Students must have written consent of their faculty supervisor(s) and the undergraduate counsellor before registering.
FAH483H5: Studies in Medieval Art
Students who have demonstrated unusual ability in earlier years will be encouraged to undertake, under the supervision of one or more staff members, special research projects culminating in a major research paper. Not more than two half-courses in Independent Studies may be taken in a single year. Students must have written consent of their faculty supervisor(s) and the undergraduate counsellor before registering.
FAH484H5: Studies in Renaissance Art
Students who have demonstrated unusual ability in earlier years will be encouraged to undertake, under the supervision of one or more staff members, special research projects culminating in a major research paper. Not more than two half-courses in Independent Studies may be taken in a single year. Students must have written consent of their faculty supervisor(s) and the undergraduate counsellor before registering.
FAH485H5: Studies in Renaissance Art
Students who have demonstrated unusual ability in earlier years will be encouraged to undertake, under the supervision of one or more staff members, special research projects culminating in a major research paper. Students must have written consent of their faculty supervisor(s) and the undergraduate counsellor before registering.
FAH486H5: Studies in Baroque Art
Students who have demonstrated unusual ability in earlier years will be encouraged to undertake, under the supervision of one or more staff members, special research projects culminating in a major research paper. Students must have written consent of their faculty supervisor(s) and the undergraduate counsellor before registering.
FAH487H5: Studies in Baroque Art
Students who have demonstrated unusual ability in earlier years will be encouraged to undertake, under the supervision of one or more staff members, special research projects culminating in a major research paper. Not more than two half-courses in Independent Studies may be taken in a single year. Students must have written consent of their faculty supervisor(s) and the undergraduate counsellor before registering.
FAH488H5: Studies in Modern Art
Students who have demonstrated unusual ability in earlier years will be encouraged to undertake, under the supervision of one or more staff members, special research projects culminating in a major research paper. Students must have written consent of their faculty supervisor(s) and the undergraduate counsellor before registering.
FAH489H5: Studies in Modern Art
Students who have demonstrated unusual ability in earlier years will be encouraged to undertake, under the supervision of one or more staff members, special research projects culminating in a major research paper. Not more than two half-courses in Independent Studies may be taken in a single year. Students must have written consent of their faculty supervisor(s) and the undergraduate counsellor before registering.
FAH490H5: Topics in Ancient Art and Architecture
An in-depth examination of a topic in ancient art and/or architecture. Topics vary from year to year, and the content in any given year depends upon the instructor. A seminar course limited to 20 students.
FAH491H5: Topics in Medieval Art and Architecture
An in-depth examination of a topic in Medieval art and or architecture. Topics vary from year to year, and the content in any given year depends upon the instructor. A seminar course limited to 20 students.
FAH492H5: Topics in Modern Art and Architecture
An in-depth examination of a topic in modern art and/or architecture. Topics vary from year to year, and the content in any given year depends upon the instructor. A seminar course limited to 20 students.
FAH493H5: Topics in Early Modern Art and Architecture
An in-depth examination of a topic in early modern (Renaissance and/or Baroque) art and/or architecture. Topics vary from year to year, and the content in any given year depends upon the instructor. A seminar course limited to 20 students.
FAH494H5: Topics in Contemporary Art and Theory
An in-depth examination of a topic in contemporary art and/or theory. Topics vary from year to year, and the content in any given year depends upon the instructor. A seminar course limited to 20 students.
FAH495H5: Topics in Islamic Art and Architecture
An examination of a topic in Islamic art and or architecture. Topics vary from year to year; the content in any given year depends upon the instructor. This will be a lecture course for approximately 20 students.
FAH496H5: Topics in Modern Art and Architecture
An in-depth examination of a topic in modern art and/or architecture. Topics vary from year to year, and the content in any given year depends upon the instructor. A seminar course limited to 20 students.
FAH498H5: Topics in Curatorial Studies
An in-depth examination of a topic in Curatorial Studies. Topics vary from year to year, and the content in any given year depends upon the instructor. A seminar course limited to 20 students. FAH498H5 may be counted toward the Curatorial Studies Certificate.
FAS143H5: Drawing I
(Offered at Sheridan College) Students explore the use of drawing to investigate contemporary approaches to the production of artwork. Students experiment with a variety of traditional and unconventional materials to investigate figurative drawing, observational drawing, conceptual drawing, and methods of rendering illusionistic space.
FAS145H5: Painting I
(Offered at Sheridan College) Students explore techniques and subject matter of 20th-century painting in relation to contemporary painting practices. Students apply both observational and conceptual approaches through experimentation with painting's formal elements, traditional and non-traditional painting materials, collage, and abstraction.
FAS147H5: Photography I
(Offered at Sheridan College) Students build skills using a manual-operation camera, processing B&W film, creating silver-based photographic prints in the darkroom, and in acquiring basic digital processing and printing techniques in colour photography. Students apply their use of photography as a tool for artistic expression and as a medium for communication through discussion, analysis and interpretation.
FAS232H5: Print Media I
(Offered at Sheridan College) Students learn relief and intaglio processes by exploring and experimenting with the materials and techniques demonstrated in class, and integrating them with formal and contextual concerns.
FAS234H5: Print Media II
(Offered at Sheridan College) Students explore the basics of screen printing using hand-drawn and cut stencil imagery. Students are encouraged to link ideas with screen printing methods most suited to their goals. Students integrate digital and photo-based imagery using software, digital photos, and scans. Focus is placed upon individual development through exploration and production.
FAS236H5: Design I
(Offered at Sheridan College) Students develop an awareness of applied design thinking and theories. Students use design techniques and tools to address a range of design issues through a variety of approaches and media. Students broaden their conception of design and its application in other design and art-related disciplines through creative experimentation. The fundamental principles of design and concept development are explored by students through projects involving typography, images, colour, layout and design software for print and the Web.
FAS243H5: Drawing II
(Offered at Sheridan College) Students explore the use of drawing to investigate contemporary approaches to the production of artwork. Students experiment with a variety of traditional and experimental materials to investigate figurative drawing, zines, and independent studio research.
FAS245H5: Painting II
(Offered at Sheridan College) Students complete problem-based paintings, each over a three-week period, in response to illustrated discussion/lectures on Canadian and international contemporary painting practices. Students write visiting artist reviews and are introduced to in-depth peer critiques, a range of painting media and techniques, and portfolio documentation.
FAS246H5: Design II
(Offered at Sheridan College) Students continue to develop their investigation of design thinking, theories, techniques and tools. Students study different design strategies and problem solving with practical assignments. Diverse assignments encourage students to articulate a critical awareness of the values associated with their choice of imagery, formal elements and methods of construction.
FAS247H5: Photography II
(Offered at Sheridan College) Students explore historical and contemporary uses of the medium that emphasize technical, aesthetic and conceptual considerations. Students utilize a variety of printing methods, including fibre-based printing, sequencing and other techniques that further develop the creative aspects of the medium. Use of the video camera and basic video editing are also introduced.
FAS248H5: Sculpture I
(Offered at Sheridan College) Students delve into basic sculptural processes such as casting, mold-making and construction in both traditional and non-traditional materials. Students explore formal and conceptual concerns relative to contemporary sculpture practices that include considerations of representation, abstraction, form and space, scale and installation.
FAS258H5: Sculpture II
(Offered at Sheridan College) Students create a strong individualized methodology for developing ideas from initial research, sketches and models, through material and process exploration to a final artwork. Students begin by building an armature and modelling from life with clay in order to develop their powers of observation and hand-skills. Using mold making and woodworking techniques, students apply the sculptural aspects of space and time at the scale of the human body.
FAS330Y5: Experimentation in Past and Present Techniques
(Offered at Sheridan College) This course is a practical investigation of techniques in art that have both historical precedents and contemporary applications. Media covered may include some of the following: mosaic, bas-relief in wood, encaustic, metalpoint drawing, and fresco. Students collaborate to create a mural for a public site.
FAS334Y5: Print Media III
(Offered at Sheridan College) Students use lithography, digital printing, screen printing, relief printing and etching to establish a personalized approach to print media. Students conduct independent research and technical explorations leading to sophisticated and resolved work. Students present a biographical overview of contemporary and historical print makers to further contextualize their own work, and to become aware of how the medium of print is evolving.
FAS343Y5: Drawing III
(Offered at Sheridan College) Students explore the use of drawing to investigate contemporary approaches to the production of artwork. Students work with a variety of traditional and unconventional drawing materials and processes to develop a portfolio of artworks.
FAS345Y5: Painting III
(Offered at Sheridan College) Students develop independent research habits to support self-directed projects in painting that are discussed in a peer critique setting. Students compose an artist statement of their intentions and procedures, write gallery and visiting artist reviews, prepare a contemporary Canadian or international artist presentation, and document their artwork.
FAS346Y5: Design III
(Offered at Sheridan College) Students develop the skills necessary to create real-world art and design-related projects. Students create full or partial design mockups, work in teams, and submit proposals to design competitions within or outside the school. Students explore contemporary art and design via simulated workplace assignments, visual presentation, field trips, guest critics, discussion and critique.
FAS347Y5: Photography III
(Offered at Sheridan College) Students develop a critically informed photography practice by integrating the history and theory of photography with their production of original work in either an analogue or digital format. Students work with digital imaging technologies, production of digital prints, video, as well as the use of strobe lighting.
FAS348Y5: Sculpture III
(Offered at Sheridan College) Students develop independent research habits to support self-directed projects in sculpture that are discussed in a peer critique setting. Students compose an artist statement of their intentions and procedures, write visiting artist reviews and responses to assigned readings, prepare a contemporary Canadian or international artist presentation, and document their artwork.
FAS349Y5: Video, Sound and Performance
(Offered at Sheridan College) This studio-based course investigates issues of identity, gender, activism, and the body within public and private space. Fieldwork will be emphasized: the locus of the classroom becomes part of a critical inquiry of everyday life or specific public events. Assignments take into consideration the temporal nature of performance, video, sound, and interactivity. Students are exposed to a range of interdisciplinary and trans-media approaches such as digital video production and projection, multi-track sound editing, installations and interventions, and online interactivity. Through readings, presentations, discussions, workshops, topical assignments, and critiques, students develop a body of work that investigates experimental time-based processes.
FAS359Y5: Video and Sound
(Offered at Sheridan College) Students explore the use of sound and video to investigate contemporary approaches to the production of time-based artwork. Students work with analogue and digital editing processes, live sound performance, site-specific soundworks, single-channel video, video installation, and will develop a professional portfolio website.
FAS369Y5: Performance-Based Art
(Offered at Sheridan College) Students integrate history, theory and production to develop critically informed performance practices with documentation in video and still photography.
FAS434Y5: Individual Investigations in Print Media
(Offered at Sheridan College) Students conduct independent research and develop a body of work using print medium(s) of their choice. Students present information on their educational and professional goals after graduation, write an artist's statement about their work, review and discuss articles and videos, and mount a group exhibition of their work.
FAS443Y5: Individual Investigations in Drawing
(Offered at Sheridan College) Students explore the use of drawing to investigate contemporary approaches to the production of artwork. Students work with a variety of traditional and unconventional drawing materials and processes to develop a professional website portfolio. Students participate in peer critiques, and write reflective essays and artist statements.
FAS445Y5: Individual Investigations in Painting
(Offered at Sheridan College) Students develop independent research habits to support self-directed projects in painting that are discussed in a peer critique setting. Students write an artist statement of their intentions and procedures, prepare a Canadian and international MFA program presentation, and document their artwork.
FAS446Y5: Individual Investigations in Design
(Offered at Sheridan College) Students learn to integrate professional art and design strategies, and to research, coordinate and fully realize their own long-term projects. Students work collaboratively on large projects as well as work on mandatory and optional assignments from a range of possible assignments.
FAS447Y5: Individual Investigations in Photography
(Offered at Sheridan College) Students develop a critically informed photography practice by integrating the history and theory of photography with their production of original work in either an analogue or digital format. Students prepare a presentation comparing two Canadian and/or international MFA programs, in addition to preparing responses to readings and technical assignments.
FAS448Y5: Individual Investigations in Sculpture
(Offered at Sheridan College) Students produce a coherent body of self-directed artwork based on independent research and written proposals. In-progress and completed artworks are discussed in a peer critique setting. Students write an artist statement of their intentions and procedures, prepare a Canadian and international MFA program presentation, and document their artwork.
FAS450Y5: Advanced Project
(Offered at Sheridan College) In this directed study, students undertake two semesters of independent research under the mentorship of a full-time Art and Art History studio faculty member. Students develop and present a body of artwork and a written and illustrated thesis for discussion, evaluation and critique. Advanced Project students must have a B+ standing in a completed fourth-year studio. A written proposal must be submitted to, and approved by, the department before registration.
FAS451H5: Advanced Project
(Offered at Sheridan College) In this directed study, students undertake a semester-long period of independent research under the mentorship of a full-time Art and Art History studio faculty member. Students develop and present a body of artwork and a written and illustrated thesis for discussion, evaluation and critique. Advanced Project students must have a B+ standing in a completed fourth-year studio. A written proposal must be submitted to, and approved by, the department before registration.
FAS452H5: Advanced Project
(Offered at Sheridan College) In this directed study, students undertake a semester-long period of independent research under the mentorship of a full-time Art and Art History studio faculty member. Students develop and present a body of artwork and a written and illustrated thesis for discussion, evaluation and critique. Advanced Project students must have a B+ standing in a completed fourth-year studio. A written proposal must be submitted to, and approved by, the department before registration.
FAS453H5: Art Education Practice
(Offered at Sheridan College) Students investigate the principles of educational theory and practice for teaching the visual arts to learners including children, adolescents and adults, within a variety of educational settings.
FAS454H5: Professional Practice
(Offered at Sheridan College) Students explore the requirements of establishing a career as a practicing visual artist. Topics covered include portfolio development, finding and securing artist residency and exhibition opportunities, ways to support yourself as an artist, grant writing, photo documentation, peer group support, marketing and bookkeeping.
FRE180H5: French Language Skills and Learning Strategies for University Study
This course provides students with a solid grounding in the French language skills and language learning strategies required for successful completion of a French Major or Specialist program. Students will discover vocabulary and grammatical structures in a variety of authentic written and spoken texts, connect form to meaning, participate in spoken and written interactions, and complete tasks on topics centered on student life in Montreal. All students are REQUIRED to complete the French Placement Test (https://frenchpt.utm.utoronto.ca/) before enrolling in ANY FSL or FRE language course for the FIRST time.
FRE181H5: Introduction to French Studies
This course provides an introduction to French studies with a focus on expanding students’ French language proficiency. It also introduces basic notions in French linguistics, literary & cultural studies, and language teaching & learning. Students will practice processing authentic texts in a variety of written and spoken formats through the guided discovery of new vocabulary and through the consolidation of grammatical structures. They will learn to connect form to meaning and to develop their spoken and written skills via an investigation of global French-speaking cultures. All students are REQUIRED to complete the French Placement Test (https://frenchpt.utm.utoronto.ca/) before enrolling in ANY FSL or FRE language course for the FIRST time.
FRE227H5: Teaching and Learning a Second/Foreign Language
This course provides an introduction to second language pedagogy with a particular focus on French. Students will learn key concepts in pedagogy and compare the teaching and learning processes and experiences of first and second language learners as well as the roles of classroom teachers and learners via the creation of linguistic portraits and pedagogical materials.
FRE240H5: Interpreting French Narratives
This course provides an introduction to French & Francophone literary and cultural studies, providing students with a set of interpretive tools that they can use to analyze narrative texts and movies in French classes and beyond. Particular emphasis will be placed on developing attentive and critical reading skills about and through narrative texts and movies, and on deploying these skills accurately in written and oral productions and discussions.
FRE272H5: A Linguistic Introduction to the French Language
This course provides a linguistic introduction to the French language and French-language phenomena. Students will learn to analyze meaning, word, sound, and sentence structure; describe linguistic phenomena including first and second language acquisition, bilingualism, and creoles; and identify the linguistic variation observed among French speakers and speech communities.
FRE280Y5: Language Practice: Written
This course develops writing skills at an intermediate level in the areas of vocabulary, grammar and style. Emphasis will be put on practice and error correction. All students are REQUIRED to complete the French Placement Test (https://frenchpt.utm.utoronto.ca/) before enrolling in ANY FSL or FRE language course for the FIRST time.
FRE282H5: Intermediate Language Practice: Written French
This course develops writing skills at an intermediate level in the areas of vocabulary, grammar, and style. Students will acquire practical tools for understanding and producing French written texts for their university studies and beyond. Emphasis will be placed on developing descriptive, narrative, and argumentative writing skills. All students are REQUIRED to complete the French Placement Test (https://frenchpt.utm.utoronto.ca/) before enrolling in ANY FSL or FRE language course for the FIRST time.
FRE283H5: Intermediate Language Practice: Spoken French
This course provides students with intensive practice in listening and spoken French at the intermediate level. Students will acquire the skills and vocabulary necessary for daily conversations and understanding of Francophone culture through exposure to various media and authentic documents such as songs, storytelling, videos, games, and interviews and other media. Particular attention is paid to spontaneous speech, formal and informal interactions, as well as presentation skills. All students are REQUIRED to complete the French Placement Test (https://frenchpt.utm.utoronto.ca/) before enrolling in ANY FSL or FRE language course for the FIRST time.
FRE299Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This courses provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their second year to work in the research project of a professor in return for 299Y course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
FRE312H5: Modernity, Tradition, and Resistance in Quebec Literature
This course explores the tension between modernity and tradition in a range of fiction and non-fiction written in Quebec from the 19th century to the present day. Students will apply previous knowledge in literature, and their oral and written competences in French to the study of multiple literary genres including the novel, short story, essay and journalistic texts. Particular emphasis will be placed on extending attentive reading skills as ways of reflecting on texts and their relationship to gender, freedom, identity, space and history.
FRE316H5: Comedy and Tragedy in Quebec Theatre
This course explores topics in Quebec theatre, from the 19th century to the present day. Students will apply previous knowledge in literature, and their oral and written competences in French to the study of a variety of plays. Particular emphasis will be placed on extending attentive reading skills as ways of reflecting on dramatic texts and their relationship to space, language, and society.
FRE325H5: Talking like a child: language acquisition of French
We might not remember how we learned our first language(s) but we know it/them so well… Or do we? We take the child’s perspective in language learning, focusing on the following topics: the acquisition of grammar, the development of communicative skills, the development of a language in a multilingual environment (as a majority language versus a heritage language), the differences and similarities between simultaneous and successive language acquisition.
FRE342H5: History of Quebec and French Canada
This course examines the history of French Canada, focusing in particular on the period from the 1830s to the present. It explores questions of culture, political community, language, and geography, looking to these aspects of historical experience to situate Quebec and French Canada with respect to North America's English-speaking majority as well as to the French-speaking nations of Europe, Africa, and elsewhere in the Americas. The course is taught in English but students will work with French-language material and will be required to write all tests and assignments in French. This course is taught in conjunction with HIS342H5.
FRE343H5: Indigenous Literatures in Quebec and Francophone Canada
The course explores Indigenous literatures in Francophone Canada including Indigenous texts and authors from Quebec. The works discussed engage with issues of sovereignty, anti-racism, Native identity and gender, and span multiple genres including fiction, theatre, poetry and essay.
FRE352H5: Teaching French Grammar
This course examines practical and theoretical issues surrounding grammar in the language curriculum such as various approaches to the implementation of grammar in language curricula, such as in grammar-translation or task-based learning; the role and limitations of descriptive grammar, including pedagogical grammar; form focus versus meaning focus; interference and error analysis; feedback on errors. Students will be asked to critique and create teaching materials.
FRE354H5: Teaching French in a Plurilingual Context
This course allows students to explore innovative pedagogical approaches such as the Action Oriented and Plurilingual & Pluricultural Approaches, building on knowledge and skills acquired in FRE227H5 Teaching and Learning a Second/Foreign Language. This is accomplished through the examination of the linguistic and cultural diversity observed in French Language classes today, and the discovery of innovative and current teaching approaches followed by the creation of pedagogical materials. Particular emphasis is placed on students’ abilities to transfer knowledge into practice.
FRE355H5: Psycholinguistics: multilingual learners in action
This course provides an introduction to real-time language interaction in multilingual comprehension and production. A primary focus will be on language development, spoken and written language processing, the organization of multilingual memory, and the main experimental methods in psycholinguistics.
FRE363H5: Love and Pain in French Literature
This course explores the tension between love and pain in a range of French literary works from 1800 to the contemporary era. Students will apply their previous knowledge in literature, and oral and written competences in French, to the study of multiple autobiographical and literary genres. Particular emphasis will be placed on extending attentive reading skills as ways of reflecting on first- and third-person writing and its relationship to love, social context and expectations, and gender.
FRE364H5: Society through the French Novel
This course explores the representation of social issues in French literature, from the 19th century to the contemporary era. Students will apply previous knowledge in literature, and their oral and written competences in French to the study of social exclusion and marginality, class consciousness, and social identities as literary themes. Particular emphasis will be on extending attentive reading skills as ways of thinking about storytelling and its relationship to character, the interplay between documentary and fictional genres, and commitment through authorship.
FRE367H5: French Fiction of the 20th Century
This course allows students to explore French fiction of the 20th Century. Students apply previous knowledge in literature and cultural studies, and their oral and written competences in French to the study of works. Particular emphasis will be placed on extending attentive reading skills as ways of reflecting on memory and the telling of war experiences, the lives of women, and crime and guilt in the French context.
FRE369H5: The French Novel Today
This course explores contemporary French literature. Students will apply previous knowledge in literature, and their oral and written competences in French to the study of key trends in contemporary fiction and autobiography. Particular emphasis will be placed on extending attentive reading skills as ways of reflecting on storytelling and its relationship to critical social commentary, the creative power of language, and testimony.
FRE370H5: Voices from No-Man's Land: Diaspora Writings in the 21st Century Francophone Literature
Contemporary literature written in the French language offers a rich and fertile ground for writers of various origins, cultures and languages who are united by several common factors: exile, immigration, transculturation, identity and alterity, and relationship with French, among others. This course explores these topics while relating them to literary and cultural contexts as well as students' real life through extensive reading and analysis of ultra contemporary novels and short stories by authors such as Dany Laferrière, Ying Chen, Aki Shimazaki, Kim Thúy, Marco Micone, Abla Farhoud, Sergio Kokis, Agota Kristof, Dai Sijie, or Nancy Huston.
FRE376H5: French Phonology and Phonetics
A study of the phonological system of modern French based on actual samples of speech taken from different regional varieties and socio-economic groups.
FRE377H5: Phonetics & Phonology of French Foreign Accent
This course explores the phonetic and phonological properties of second language French learners' speech. Particular emphasis is placed on students' ability to summarize typical characteristics and phenomena of second language speech learning, identify segmental and prosodic features of non-native French including inter-learner variability, and conduct acoustic analyses of real learner speech.
FRE378H5: French Syntax and the Multilingual Speaker
This course explores the sentential structure of French through the lens of language learners. The focus is first and foremost on the learning of French grammar including relative clauses, negation, pronominals and the agreement system.
FRE380H5: Plurilingual Theatre : Developing Writing and Oral Skills in French
The use of drama or theatre-based activities is a proven way to motivate and support learners in a foreign language classroom. Through observation, active participation, and reflection on the processes involved when learning French language and culture, students will use their knowledge of French, and other languages, to enhance communicative skills through drama (ranging from improvisation to full-length plays).
FRE382H5: Advanced Language Practice: Written French
This course develops writing skills at an advanced level in the areas of vocabulary, grammar and style. Emphasis will be put on practice and error correction. All students are REQUIRED to complete the French Placement Test (https://frenchpt.utm.utoronto.ca/) before enrolling in ANY FSL or FRE language course for the FIRST time.
FRE383H5: Advanced Language Practice: Spoken French
This course provides students with intensive practice in listening and spoken French at the advanced level. Students will acquire competences and vocabulary necessary for authentic academic and professional settings. Formal and informal interactions, projects and tasks are designed to enhance various types of oral communication skills. All students are REQUIRED to complete the French Placement Test (https://frenchpt.utm.utoronto.ca/) before enrolling in ANY FSL or FRE language course for the FIRST time.
FRE384H5: Second Language Acquisition of French
This course examines the lexical, phonetico-phonological, (morpho)syntactic, and sociolinguistic competence of second language learners of French. Students will come to understand the acquisition of these competences with respect to major themes including input and output quantity & quality, crosslinguistic influences, developmental sequences, individual differences, and the effects of training and classroom instruction. Particular emphasis is placed on students’ ability to analyze learner data.
FRE385H5: Decoding French Language Games
This course explores the phonological properties of French language games such as Verlan and Loucherbem. Adopting a comparative approach with standard French, particular emphasis will be placed on students' ability to identify and model phonological patterns of segmental and syllable structure modification using both descriptive and theoretical phonological tools.
FRE386H5: French Semantics
Various approaches to the notion of meaning; its functioning at all levels of representation.
FRE387H5: French Morphology
A study of the morphological system of modern French, its relationship to syntax and phonology; theoretical notions derived from the analysis of specific data. Special attention will be given to the methods of analysis and classification, as well as selected morphological categories (verbs, nouns, etc.).
FRE389H5: Individual Differences in Second Language Acquisition
This course examines the effects of cognitive (e.g., aptitude, working memory) and affective differences (e.g., motivation, L2 anxiety) on second language acquisition. Students will be provided with a foundation in quantitative analysis and come to understand the nature of individual differences via empirical studies on learners of French and the use of assessment instruments including questionnaires and on-line tests. Particular emphasis is placed on students' ability to discuss between-learner differences in comprehension and production, identify relevant individual differences capable of explaining such variability, and conduct their own individual differences research.
FRE391H5: Women and LGBTQ+ Writers and Filmmakers of the Francophone World
This course invites students to explore women and LGBTQ+ writers and filmmakers from France and the Francophone world. Students will apply their previous knowledge in literature and cultural studies, and their oral and written competences in French to the study of works by French, Quebecois, Caribbean and African authors and directors. Particular emphasis will be placed on extending attentive reading skills as ways of thinking about gender representation, feminism, and identity in fiction, non-fiction, and films.
FRE393H5: French Society through Film
This course explores the representation of social issues in French cinema, from the Sixties to the contemporary era. Students will develop knowledge in cultural studies, and their oral and written competences in French, through the study of social exclusion and marginality, class conflict, and social identities as cinematographic themes. Particular emphasis will be placed on extending attentive interpretive skills as ways of reflecting on storytelling and its relationship to the cinematic medium, the interplay between documentary and fictional genres, and authorship.
FRE395H5: Francophone Media and Global Culture
This course explores media and culture in the Francophone world through textual, graphic, musical and cinematographic content. Students will apply previously acquired knowledge in cultural studies, and their oral and written competences in French to the study of multiple cultural and mediatic forms including movies, graphic novels and songs. Particular emphasis will be placed on extending attentive reading skills as ways of thinking about texts, images and music, and on deploying these skills to better understand the relationship between different Francophone cultures within our contemporary world.
FRE397H5: Francophone African and Caribbean Cinema
This course provides an introduction to Francophone African and Caribbean cinema studies, tracing its origins and emergence to the present day. Students will apply previous knowledge in cultural studies, and their oral and written competences in French to the study of works by North-African, Sub-Saharan African, and Caribbean male and female directors. Particular emphasis will be placed on extending attentive reading skills as ways of thinking about colonialism, gender, space, and identity in narrative movies and documentaries.
FRE398H5: The Culture of Paris
This course explores the city of Paris as it developed into a cultural beacon of excellence in French culture throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Students will expand and apply previous knowledge in cultural studies, and their oral and written competences in French, to the study of the events that have shaped the Paris of today. Particular emphasis will be placed on extending attentive interpretive skills to the impact of historical events, city planning and promotion, and artistic celebration, and on deploying these skills to think critically about heritage in the French context. As part of this course, students have the option of participating in an international learning experience that will have an additional cost and application process.
FRE399H5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides senior undergraduate students who have developed some knowledge of research methods used in the discipline of French studies to work in the research project of a U of T Mississauga professor for course credit. Enrolled students have the opportunity to become involved in original research, develop their research skills, and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Project descriptions for participating faculty members for the following summer and fall/winter sessions are posted on the ROP website in mid-February and students are invited to apply at that time. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
FRE399Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides senior undergraduate students who have developed some knowledge of research methods used in the discipline of French studies to work in the research project of a U of T Mississauga professor for course credit. Enrolled students have the opportunity to become involved in original research, develop their research skills, and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Project descriptions for participating faculty members for the following summer and fall/winter sessions are posted on the ROP website in mid-February and students are invited to apply at that time. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
FRE400H5: French Studies Internship
Students enrolled in a French Studies program of study will have the opportunity, through work placement, to apply the knowledge and expertise gained throughout their studies in French. The work placement will take place in corporations, local media or community organizations. Application deadline is February 28th. Students will be required to include a letter of interest highlighting their qualifications as suitable candidates for an internship opportunity. Applicants who meet minimum criteria (must be in 4th year of studies, number of courses completed in FRE and CGPA) will be selected for an interview. Final decisions will be based on a combination of academic qualifications, experience, and the interview.
FRE440H5: Francophone Periodical Studies
This advanced research course provides students a theoretical and practical background in periodical studies, exploring the interaction of literature and journalism from the beginning of the 19th century to the present day in France and Quebec. Students work under the supervision of the instructor to prepare, collect, and analyze data from periodicals, newspapers and magazines, and to present findings in the form of a research report.
FRE442H5: Advanced Language Practice IV: Written
Consolidation of writing skills in the areas of vocabulary, grammar and style. This writing intensive course focuses on improving persuasiveness in writing, in part by reading and analyzing a variety of texts to learn to recognize strategies that work in written communications. All students are REQUIRED to complete the French Placement Test (https://frenchpt.utm.utoronto.ca/) before enrolling in ANY FSL or FRE language course for the FIRST time.
FRE445H5: Special Topics in French & Francophone Literary and Cultural Studies I
A study of fiction, non-fiction or theoretical approaches in French and Francophone literature and culture.
FRE446H5: Special Topics in French & Francophone Literary and Cultural Studies II
A study of fiction, non-fiction or theoretical approaches in French & Francophone literature and culture.
FRE453H5: Teaching French Culture
This advanced research course deepens students’ theoretical and practical background in language pedagogy, exploring research questions related to issues surrounding the integration of culture in the language curriculum including the relationship between authentic language and culture, and the role of linguistic and cultural diversity in education. Students will learn to critique and create teaching materials and undertake an independent research project.
FRE482H5: Creative Writing
This course allows students to develop their French writing skills with a variety of short imaginative and first-person genres. Students will extend their knowledge of language creativity and written competences in French to the production of a range of creative texts based on examples and using generative techniques. Particular emphasis will be placed on developing precision and a diversity of expressive skills, especially varied vocabulary and standard idiomatic turns.
FRE487H5: Advanced Topics in Experimental French Linguistics
An advanced study (or in-depth examination) of a specific topic in experimental French linguistics. Content in any given year depends on the instructor. Contact the department for details.
FRE488H5: Advanced Topics in Theoretical French Linguistics
An advanced study (or in-depth examination) of a specific topic in theoretical French linguistics. Content in any given year depends on the instructor. Contact the department for details.
FRE489H5: The Structure of the Syllable in Romance Languages
A comparative approach to the study of various phonological processes of contemporary Romance languages. Current issues on the representation of syllable structure and problems of syllabification in reference to phenomena such as liaison, elision, definite and indefinite article selection et cetera.
FRE490Y5: Senior Essay
An independent research paper on either a literary or linguistic topic to be proposed by the student and supervised by an instructor, culminating in a major research paper. For Specialists who wish to fulfill the requirements for their fourth year Literature courses. A maximum of 1.0 credit can be taken in both Senior Essay (FRE490Y5) and Independent Study (FRE491H5, FRE492H5)
FRE491H5: Independent Study
A scholarly project supervised by a Faculty member on a literary or linguistic topic of common interest, including readings, discussions and papers.
FRE492H5: Independent Study
A scholarly project supervised by a Faculty member on a literary or linguistic topic of common interest, including readings, discussions and papers.
FSC100H5: The Real CSI
This class introduces the science of Crime Scene Investigation and related forensic specialties. Students will learn about the latest scientific developments in the field, contrasting these to popular portrayals of CSI in the media, and addressing the impact of popular portrayals on juror expectations, knowledge and misconceptions.
Note: FSC1 students should not enroll in FSC100H5. This is a general science course intended to contribute to satisfying a SCI breadth requirement for non-science students. Students intending to pursue a Forensic Science degree should instead enroll in the required 1st year introductory course FSC239Y5: Introduction to Forensic Science.
IMPORTANT: Students enrolled concurrently in both FSC100H5 and FSC239Y5 will be removed from FSC100H5.
FSC101H5: The Real Law & Order
As a compliment to FSC100, this class transports students from the crime scene to the courtroom, to learn how forensic evidence and scientific methods hold up in court to become admissible. Students will discover the differences between approved and junk science, and see how emerging forensic sciences contribute to exonerations, addressing the impact of popular media portrayals on juror expectations, knowledge and misconceptions.
Note: FSC1 students should not enroll in FSC101H5. This is a general science course intended to contribute to satisfying a SCI breadth requirement for non-science students. Students intending to pursue a Forensic Science degree should instead enroll in the required 1st year introductory course FSC239Y5: Introduction to Forensic Science.
IMPORTANT: Students enrolled concurrently in both FSC101H5 and FSC239Y5 will be removed from FSC101H5.
FSC210H5: Physical Evidence and Microscopy
Forensic Science examines physical evidence in relation to the law. There are a number of scientific techniques used to characterize physical evidence, but perhaps the most utilized technique is microscopy. In this course, students will practice how to process and characterize trace evidence using a number of different microscopy techniques, such as stereomicroscope, polarized light microscope (PLM), comparison microscope, scanning electron microscope (SEM), and confocal microscope. The theory and operation behind each microscopy technique will be discussed during lecture, while students will have the opportunity to operate the different microscopes during laboratory sessions.
FSC220H5: Introduction to Forensic Psychology
This course provides an introductory overview of the many ways psychological research and theories (i.e. behavioural science) can deliver useful information in collecting and assessing evidence for criminal investigation, trial, and prevention. Topics may include: eyewitness testimony, deception, criminal profiling, false confession, mental illness, victim trauma, criminal responsibility, risk assessment, serial killing, hate crimes, sexual offending, prejudiced policing, and jury decision-making. The aim of this course is to give students general insight into the various applied specializations of forensic psychologists.
FSC239Y5: Introduction to Forensic Science
Forensic science is the application of any scientific inquiry into criminal investigation. The results of such inquiry are ultimately for presentation in courts of law. Specialists in forensic science will lecture on a variety of topics that will include crime scene investigation, the role of the coroner, forensic pathology, forensic chemistry, forensic botany, forensic entomology, forensic anthropology, forensic dentistry, psychology and toxicology. Case studies will be reviewed, and the role of the expert witness will be examined.
FSC271H5: Ethics and Professionalism in Forensic Science
This course covers the importance of professionalism and ethical behaviour for Forensic Scientists. It looks at the role of the Forensic Scientist and the expert witness and the consequences when ethical guidelines are not followed.
FSC300H5: Forensic Identification
Focusing on the scene of the crime and evidence found there, this course is an introduction to the field of forensic identification. Topics include: crime scene protocols, management and reconstruction; image collection, storage and enhancement; recognition collection; and chain of custody and preservation of evidence.
FSC302H5: Advanced Forensic Identification
Continuing from FSC300H5, this course focuses on advanced crime scene examination and the use of evidence detection techniques. Topics include: advanced fingerprint development techniques, footwear collection and identification, analysis report writing, bloodstain pattern interpretation and crime scene plan drawing. Additional topics discuss biometrics, examiner bias, the expert witness, crime scene examination protocols and courtroom testimony.
FSC303H5: Techniques of Crime Scene Investigation
This course will provide students with an introduction to forensic photography, crime scene processing, and forensic identification. Topics include, but are not limited to: fingerprint identification, chance impression evidence, physical evidence, crime scene and victim photography, and proper documentation of a crime scene. Students will gain an understanding of the basic "toolkit" required for crime scene processing, and learn the fundamentals of proper collection and analysis of physical evidence.
As an alternative to ( FSC300H5, FSC302H5), this course satisfies the third year IDENT requirement needed for non-IDENT capstone enrolment.
Note: This course does not satisfy the IDENT requirement for an IDENT placement. Students seeking a placement in police services MUST complete FSC302H5. Similarly, this course does not satisfy the IDENT requirement for FSC407H5.
FSC307H5: Missing Persons DVI and Unidentified Human Remains
The goal of this course is to gain a basic understanding of the case management involved in missing persons, disaster victim identification, and unidentified human remains cases. Topics covered will include the interdisciplinary interactions between anthropology, odontology, fingerprinting and forensic genetics in the identification and databasing of both missing persons and recovered unidentified human remains.
FSC310H5: Traces of the Past: Uncovering Historical and Archeological Clues through Non-Destructive Chemical Techniques
Embark on a captivating exploration of Chemical Forensics in Historical Investigations. This course equips students with the expertise to apply non-invasive, non-destructive analytical chemistry methods to investigate historical evidence, such as archaeological artifacts and historical documents. Students will engage in the meticulous practice of careful examination, where each artifact may reveal meaningful insights from the past or expose long-concealed forgeries. Topics covered include microscopic and spectroscopic techniques, mass spectrometry, and elemental analysis methods. Beyond technical mastery, students will refine collaborative skills with non-technical stakeholders and develop proficiency in interpreting, acknowledging limitations, and discerning the implications of analytical results vital for unraveling the tapestry of the past.
By the end of this course, students will not only possess a profound understanding of non-destructive chemical analysis but also exhibit the finesse required to apply this knowledge in real-world scenarios and communicate their findings with precision and authority.
FSC311H5: Forensic Chemistry
This course focuses on the analysis of physical evidence based on the principles of analytical chemistry. Students will gain knowledge in the theory and operation of forensically relevant chemical and instrumental techniques used for the analysis of evidentiary items, including drug/alcohol analysis, gunshot residue, explosives, paint analysis, etc. Students will also develop skills relating to the interpretation, limitation, and implications of analytical results in a forensic context. (Priority given first to Forensic Science Specialists and Majors; then Minors.)
FSC312H5: Bioinformatics in Forensic Biology
This course will introduce core concepts, practices and research topics including DNA sequence alignment, DNA sequence analysis, interacting with scientific databases, and genome sequencing technologies within a forensic biological context. This course includes computer-based practical exercises using freely available software (i.e., R Studio, the command line, etc.) wherein students will apply bioinformatics tools and be introduced to basic computer programming within a forensic and investigative genetic lens.
FSC314H5: Hot Topics in Forensic Science
A lecture-based course examining contemporary topics in forensic science. The course will emphasize group discussion where students will examine, review, criticize, and present on current trends and fundamental topics within forensic science, which could include evidence screening, methodology, forensic technological developments/enhancements as well as current ethical and/or political changes in the field. The implications and applications of forensic science research advances will also be explored. The theme of the course is expected to be topical and current, and to vary from year to year to accommodate the interests of both the students enrolled in the course and the faculty member(s) teaching the course.
FSC315H5: Forensic Biology
This course focuses on the analysis and interpretation of biological evidence in a forensic context. Students will gain knowledge in the theory and operation of forensically relevant biological and instrumental techniques used for the analysis of evidentiary items, including DNA, bodily fluids, hair, etc. Students will also develop skills relating to the interpretation, limitation, and implications of analytical results in a forensic context. (Priority given first to Forensic Science Specialists and Majors; then Minors.)
FSC316H5: Forensic Anatomy
This course examines the body as forensic evidence. Human gross anatomy and histology will be examined from the perspective of forensic pathology, students will learn about the role of the body in crime scene analysis, autopsy procedures such as fingerprinting and forensic imaging of the deceased, and address anatomical anomalies useful for forensic purposes such as identification. Other topics include bodily decomposition, disease, and injuries.
FSC320H5: Forensic Psychopathology
Pathology is the study of disease and psychopathology is the study of mental illness. In Forensic Psychopathology, then, we make inquiries about mental illness in the context of forensic practices. In this course, we will explore multiple topics in the field providing the student with a general insight into its history, scientific merits, and practical relevance. We will survey prevailing theories on mental health, illness, and treatment. Investigate psychiatric diagnoses such as (juvenile) Conduct Disorder, Antisocial Personality Disorder, and Psychopathy, hereunder their application and relevance in risk assessment, behavior prediction, and offender rehabilitation. We will also discuss methodological, ethical, and legal issues in the field, for example, the scientific validity of psychiatric diagnostics, the ethical implications of using psychiatric assessments in forensic institutions, and the legal responsibility of mentally ill offenders.
FSC330H5: Best Practices in Forensic Science
This course will guide students through the common fundamentals of quality assurance, health & safety, resiliency and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) training and report writing in forensic science professions.
FSC335H5: Forensic Epistemology: Scientific Knowledge and the Legal System
Epistemology is the study of the nature and limitations of human knowledge, exploring challenging questions such as: What makes some beliefs more justified than others? Why are we so compelled by the insights of modern science? Are there practical limitations to what we can know?
In Forensic Epistemology, we examine how such questions apply to practices within the legal system, from criminal investigations to sentencing and correctional management. The course focuses on how scientific knowledge can be used to improve decision-making around legal issues, while identifying the limitations of forensic science more broadly. Through discussions and case studies, we cover a wide range of topics: the validity and reliability of forensic identification techniques; the demarcation of science from non-science; the influence of cognitive biases in scientific research and criminal investigations; methods in critical and statistical inferential thinking; and standards in research methods and communication.
FSC340H5: Research Design
This course introduces students to common methods of research design and the nature of data collection. Students will learn how to pose a meaningful research questions, to select appropriate data types, to define variables, examine bias, confounding factors, and select appropriate statistics that address their purpose.
FSC341H5: Applied Forensic Statistics
Designed as a companion course to FSC340H5, Forensic Statistics will introduce students to basic analytic methods necessary to evaluate quantitative data in forensic science. Students will learn methods of visualizing and analyzing univariate, bivariate, and multivariate data in forensic science, with emphasis on practical applications of statistics in various forensic sub-disciplines. No prior knowledge of statistics and mathematics is required.
FSC350H5: Special Topics in Forensic Science
A survey of recent developments in theory and applications of forensic science with particular attention to case studies in a particular branch of forensic science. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
FSC351H5: Advanced Topics in Forensic Science
A survey of recent developments in theory and applications of forensic science with particular attention to case studies in a particular branch of forensic science. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
FSC360H5: Evidence, Law and Forensic Science in Canada
This course will explore the position of forensic science within the law in Canada. The focus will be on the evolution of the acceptance of forensic science in Canadian criminal law and its current position within the legal system. Topics include: Evidence law, expert evidence law, defining the expert, differing standards of legal acceptance for police sciences and others. Important historical documents and legal advancements will be surveyed.
FSC361H5: Mental Illness and the Criminal Justice System
This course will develop students’ knowledge of forensic mental health issues throughout the criminal justice system, including the nature and extent of mental illness in our society and the various legal, social and ethical issues that arise when a mentally disordered individual comes into contact with the criminal justice system. Topics to be explored include: the medical and legal definitions of mental disorder and their relationship to each other; the criteria for state-compelled treatment and how it impinges upon individual autonomy; the changing views of the justice system’s duty to accommodate victims and witnesses with mental health issues; fitness to stand trial and the defense of not criminally responsible; and the Review Board process.
FSC370H5: Forensic Psychopharmacology
This course introduces students to the area of psychopharmacology (drug induced changes in mood, thinking and behaviour). The mechanisms of action of drugs in the nervous system and their effects on the brain and on behaviour will be explored and the significance of psychopharmacology in criminal investigations and trials will be discussed.
This course is recommended as preparation for FSC371H5.
FSC371H5: The Science of Cannabis
This course introduces students to the science of cannabis. Students will learn about the constituents of cannabis, methods of analysis and the pharmacology of cannabinoids. In addition, the role of cannabis in forensic case work will be explored.
FSC399Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides senior undergraduate students who have developed some knowledge of a discipline and its research methods an opportunity to work in a research project. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, develop their research skills and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. This course is aimed at facilitating International Research Opportunities offered at U of T's partner institutions and coordinated through the Centre for International Experience. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
FSC401H5: Forensic Pathology
This is a general introduction of the scientific and medical basis of forensic pathology. The scientific aspects of death investigation will be emphasized including cause, manner, and time of death. Emphasis will be placed in developing skills to critically examine the published forensic scientific and medical literature. Also included are human rights death investigation, and custodial death.
FSC402H5: Forensic Toxicology
Forensic toxicology involves the study of the adverse effects of drugs, alcohol and poisons on biological systems in a medicolegal context. This course will include a review of pharmacokinetics, analytical techniques and quality assurance measures used in forensic toxicology, the effects of drugs on human performance and post-mortem toxicology of illicit drugs, pharmaceutical drugs and other poisons. The major focus of this course will be the role that a forensic toxicologist plays in criminal and death investigations.
FSC403H5: Forensic Analytical Toxicology
Analytical toxicology is the isolation, detection, identification, and quantitation of foreign compounds (xenobiotics) in biological and other specimens. This course integrates theoretical and practical aspects of analytical chemistry with forensic toxicology. General aspects of method development, implementation, validation, and laboratory operation will be explored.
FSC406H5: Introduction To 3D Crime Scene Mapping And Reconstruction
This course introduces students to both standard and innovative methods of documenting, mapping, analyzing, and visualizing/reconstructing a crime scene for investigative purposes, including: total stations; laser scanners; panoramic images; and photogrammetry. Course topics range from basic measurement theory and statistics, to legal considerations such as admissibility and preparing courtroom-ready visualizations. Students will learn to use forensic mapping software to create courtroom-ready graphics.
FSC407H5: Forensic Identification Field School
A field course to complement the material covered in both FSC300H5, Forensic Identification & FSC302H5, Advanced Forensic Identification. The field school will be held on the U of T Mississauga Campus over a 2-week period during the summer term and during weekly two hour labs in the fall term. In these classes, students will experience practical exposure to field and laboratory methods related to evidence recognition, collection and interpretation. Emphasis will be placed on the types of evidence collected, processed, and analyzed by forensic identification specialists. General evidence and small object photography techniques will be an important component of the course.
Course Application is required. See the Forensic Science Program website for details.
FSC415H5: Advanced Methods in Forensic Biology
This advanced course explores the methodologies and data interpretation of forensic DNA typing, and other forensic biology techniques. The course will cover the principles, protocols, and current practices in an effort to understand the “what”, “how” and “why” of DNA analysis in a forensic context. Students will also learn about new and future trends in the field of forensic DNA typing, where discussion and evaluation of the primary literature is a key component of this course. Practical sessions will focus on the advanced techniques discussed in lecture.
FSC416H5: Population Genetics
This course introduces students to the genetic variation between and within populations. The topics include evolutionary forces, quantitative genetics, and Baysian statistics as it applies to forensic biology.
FSC420H5: Field and Lab Methods in Forensic Psychology
This course introduces students to field practices and research procedures in Forensic Psychology. The topics in field practice may include, but are not limited to: administrating risk assessment; conducting semi-structured patient interviews; fitness to stand trial assessment; mental health diagnostics; psychological profiling in criminal investigation; administering patient records; trial preparation. The tasks related to research procedures may include, but are not limited to: research literature searches and citation management; writing ethics proposals; data collection, annotation, analysis, and storage; writing abstracts, critical analysis, and methods; writing peer-review responses; formalizing and executing research theory, hypotheses and design.
FSC430H5: Seminar in Forensic Science
As a capstone course, FSC430H5 is intended to apply the unique interdisciplinary perspectives acquired by students enrolled in the Forensic Science Minor. This course will address key themes in forensics, and culminate in a collaborative course project, informed and shaped by these perspectives. Students can expect to work in partnerships, groups, or teams to investigate and discuss major issues, hot topics, historical events or growing bodies of knowledge that contribute to a broader understanding of forensic science and how it is relevant across many, if not all disciplines.
Restricted to students enrolled in the Forensic Science Minor.
FSC439H5: Forensic Anthropology Case Analysis
This course offers a case-based approach to forensic anthropology. Students will critically evaluate real forensic anthropological cases, in addition to completing their own mock cases - from the transfer of evidence to a mock trial.
FSC481Y5: Internship in Forensic Science
As the capstone experience for the Forensic Science Specialist Programs, this course provides students with professional practice and research experience. Students are required to attend classes that address proper research design and methodology, as well as issues of professional practice in the forensic sciences including: ethics; research protocols; written and verbal communication skills; professional communication (interviews, letters, emails, reports, presentations, and publications); and expert witness testimony. Students will also be placed with a participating forensic agency to conduct research and gain an understanding of the unit's daily operations. In addition to practice presentations, critiques, an ethics approval application, a 10-15 page research proposal, and a mock interview, students are required to formally present the results of their research at the annual Forensic Science Day symposium and submit a publication quality manuscript of their work.
Note: Internship Placements are arranged by the FSC Program. Students MUST apply for this course and the Course Application is due in the February preceding the placement. See the Forensic Science Program website for details on course application, information, and procedures. There will be an information session regarding Internship Placements, preceding the application period. Students must have one free day (Monday - Friday) to work at their internship placement site and must be in the final year before graduation. Students are expected to provide their own transportation to placement work site.
FSC482H5: Professional Practice in Forensic Science
This course will address practical considerations of professional practice, including professional writing, ethics in research, interviews, mock trial, and journal publication. Students MUST apply for this course. Course Application & Procedures: https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/forensic/applications
FSC483H5: Collaborative Research Internship
As the alternative capstone experience, this course provides students the opportunity to work in a cross-disciplinary collaborative environment to address case-based research questions.
Note: Topics will be made available at the time of application. Students MUST apply for this course and the course application is due in the February preceding the internship. See the Forensic Science Program website for details on course application, information and procedures. There will be an information session regarding this course, preceding the application period. Students must have one free day (Monday - Friday) to work on their collaborative research internship and must be in the final year before graduation.
FSC484H5: Communicating Forensic Science
As a pre-professional training experience, this capstone course will prepare students in media literacy for communicating their forensic sub-discipline in a variety of avenues. Students will learn how to present forensic content through writing, digital media (podcasts, vlogs, etc.), interviews, and outreach engagement. The course will develop skills as they pertain to converting complex science to accessible testimony, both for public and academic/educational settings, as well as handling/engaging with journalism media.
Elements of course completion will include commitments external to class time, including, but not limited to: Forensic Skills Development workshops, HMALC workshops, RGASC workshops, and Forensic Outreach programming, all in conjunction with lecture components. Students are required to complete a minimum of 20 hours of communication experience outside of scheduled class time.
Major assignments will include presentations through various media of the student's choice, as well as a cumulative interviews with police forensic science and professionals.
Course application is required. See the Forensic Science Program website for details.
FSC485H5: Professional Opportunity in Forensic Science
This course provides students with the opportunity to engage in, and reflect on, a professional forensic experience that contributes to their employment eligibility after graduation. They will develop networking skills, enhance professional competencies, and are given the opportunity to locate and select their own experience relevant to their career goals, which may include (but is not limited to) a possible: work-study position, conference workshop, professional certification, field school, paid or unpaid internship or agency co-op. All opportunities must be approved by the program director in the term prior to enrolment.
Course application is required. See the Forensic Science Program website for details.
FSC489H5: Advanced Independent Project
For students wishing to complete original research, a feasibility study, critical review of the literature or position paper leading towards a publishable report.
FSC489Y5: Advanced Independent Project
For students wishing to complete an extended research project across the Fall and Winter terms. Students are responsible for identifying a supervisor, after which they must seek Program Director approval.
FSL105H5: Functional French-Novice
The objective of this course, which serves as a starting point in our series of FSL courses, is to introduce students to the phonetic system of the French language, to teach basic vocabulary and to develop awareness of the functions of language in different situations and contexts. An awareness of various francophone cultures and communities will be developed. All students are REQUIRED to complete the French Placement Test (https://frenchpt.utm.utoronto.ca/) before enrolling in ANY FSL or FRE language course for the FIRST time.
FSL106H5: Functional French-Advanced Beginner
Through the use of teaching materials adapted to their level, students will continue to develop their linguistics abilities and to use them in specific situations. For instance, students will learn how to ask for information, how to refuse or accept an offer. On completion of this course, a linguistic system of basic but useful structures will have been assimilated. An awareness of various francophone cultures and communities will be developed. All students are REQUIRED to complete the French Placement Test (https://frenchpt.utm.utoronto.ca/) before enrolling in ANY FSL or FRE language course for the FIRST time.
FSL205H5: Functional French – Low Intermediate I
This course focuses on developing communication skills as well as furthering students’ fluency through the production and understanding of authentic messages, working on engaging tasks while using more diverse lexical forms and expressions. Students will participate in interpersonal interactions where they learn to express emotion and opinion using culturally appropriate expressions and greater vocabulary breadth. An awareness of various francophone cultures and communities will be developed. All students are REQUIRED to complete the French Placement Test (https://frenchpt.utm.utoronto.ca/) before enrolling in ANY FSL or FRE language course for the FIRST time.
FSL206H5: Functional French - Low Intermediate II
This course focuses on nuancing acquired written and oral communication skills and on further developing students’ fluency and accuracy through the production and understanding of complex sentences, refined forms and idiomatic expressions, and the further development of discourse-oriented abilities to create meaning.
FSL305H5: Functional French - High Intermediate I
This course focuses on understanding information, comparing and reformulating types of discourse, developing more refined fluency and spontaneity in proficiently discussing current and cultural affairs and contentious topics, using different registers and tone in a broad range of situations and texts & media encountered in their academic experiences. Understanding various francophone cultures and communities will be part of the course discussion.
All students are REQUIRED to complete the French Placement Test (https://frenchpt.utm.utoronto.ca/) before enrolling in ANY FSL or FRE language course for the FIRST time.
FSL306H5: Functional French – High Intermediate II
This course focuses on analyzing and synthesizing information, comparing and evaluating diverse types of discourse, developing advanced fluency and spontaneity, accuracy and complexity in proficiently discussing and writing about current and cultural topics, using different registers and tone in a broad range of situations, texts & media. Understanding various francophone cultures and communities will be integrated in the course content and student learning experience.
All students are REQUIRED to complete the French Placement Test (https://frenchpt.utm.utoronto.ca/) before enrolling in ANY FSL or FRE language course for the FIRST time.
FSL405H5: Functional French-Advanced I
Course will focus on developing both oral and written skills in the production and understanding of complex discourse (including organization, cohesion, nuanced lexical forms and expressions) in order to participate in varied, sustained and unscripted situations. An awareness of various francophone cultures and communities will be developed. All students are REQUIRED to complete the French Placement Test (https://frenchpt.utm.utoronto.ca) before enrolling in ANY FSL or FRE language course for the FIRST time.
FSL406H5: Functional French-Advanced II
Students will focus on developing both oral and written skills in the production and understanding of complex discourse (including organization, cohesion, nuanced lexical forms and expressions) in order to initiate and sustain varied and unscripted exchanges. An awareness of various francophone cultures and communities will be developed. All students are REQUIRED to complete the French Placement Test (https://frenchpt.utm.utoronto.ca) before enrolling in ANY FSL or FRE language course for the FIRST time.
FSL466H5: French for Business Communication
This project-based course advances practical uses of written and spoken French in business contexts. Activities and assignments are scaffolded to privilege deeper level of learning and simulate an authentic job search process in order to improve and strengthen reading comprehension, communication, writing and presentation skills that students can directly apply in the workplaces.
FSL467H5: Sights, Sounds, and Tastes of the Francophone World
This course invites students to explore sights, sounds, and tastes of the French-speaking world, including cuisine, cinema, arts, media, music, comics, and literature. Students will expand their oral and written French language skills to enjoy, share their understanding of, and reflect on Francophone cultural products, practices, and perspectives including through comparisons with students’ home cultures. This course may include an experiential learning component some semesters, with opportunities for field experiences (e.g., restaurants, performances) to discover Francophone sights, sounds, and tastes. When these field experiences are offered, additional costs and application processes may apply.
GER100Y5: Introductory German
An intensive language course for students with no previous knowledge of German. Practice in listening, reading, writing and speaking while cultivating an awareness of German culture. This is an interactive course with an emphasis on communicative expression and authentic materials. The Department reserves the right to place students in the appropriate course in the series (GER100Y5, GER200Y5, GER300Y5).
GER200Y5: Intermediate German
Taught in German. This language course is a continuation of work done in GER100Y5. Expansion of grammar and vocabulary, practice in listening, reading, composition, and conversation while cultivating an introductory awareness of German culture. This is an interactive course with an emphasis on communicative expression and authentic materials. The Department reserves the right to place students in the appropriate course in the series (GER100Y5, GER200Y5, GER300Y5).
GER204H5: Masterpieces in German Literature in Translation
Taught in English and open to all students. Readings offered in both English and, as a comparative option, German. A survey of selected themes and topics on masterpieces of German literature. Students should check with the department and/or instructor regarding the course focus in the term it is being offered.
GER205H5: Introduction to German Literature
Taught in German. An introduction to the study of German literature and literary concepts using original German texts.
GER250H5: Introduction to German Culture
Taught in English and open to all students. How can we define "Germany" both historically and in its modern and increasingly multicultural context? How did Germany become the political and economic powerhouse of the European Union? How can we reflect on the Holocaust using identity, nationality and memory? These and other broad questions are examined in their cultural, social and intellectual context from the Middle Ages to the present. As part of this course, students may have the option of participating in an international learning experience that will have an additional cost and application process.
GER299Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This courses provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their second year to work in the research project of a professor in return for 299Y course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
GER300Y5: Advanced German
Taught in German. Building on materials introduced in GER100Y5 and GER200Y5, this language course provides students with a deeper understanding of German by developing communicative proficiency in all four language skills, emphasizing effective oral and written expression, aural and reading comprehension, and in-depth reviews and expansion of grammatical structures. The Department reserves the right to place students in the appropriate course in the series (GER100Y5, GER200Y5, GER300Y5).
GER303H5: German Current Events Through Print and Online News Media
The study of important political, social, and cultural issues in contemporary Germany on the basis of print and online sources is studied. Topics are typically selected by the instructor with the input of students. The course provides further refinement of writing style, reading strategies, vocabulary, and conversation skills.
GER305H5: German Literature: From the 18th to the 21st century
Taught in German. Building on the work of GER205H5, this course explores texts from the 18th to the 21st century.
GER320H5: Topics in German Literature
Topic, genre, period, and author studies. This course may be repeated for credit with different content.
GER330H5: Topics in German Cultural Studies
This course covers various topics in the culture of German-speaking countries. Such topics may include Berlin, Weimar culture, unification and the politics of memory in postwar Germany. This course may be repeated for credit with new content.
GER335H5: Post-War German Culture and Literature: Memory and the Holocaust
Taught in English and open to all students. Examines representations of the Holocaust in post-WWII German culture and literature across multiple generations and perspectives using a variety of media, including literature, film, architecture, photography and memoir.
GER353H5: German National Cinemas
An introductory survey of the history of German cinemas from the silent period to the present. Counts toward the Minor in Cinema Studies. Knowledge of German is not required.
GER354H5: Topics in German Cinema Studies
This course will cover various topics that may include genre studies, a period focus (Weimar, New German Cinema, Nazi Cinema, GDR Cinema), directors (Fritz Lang, Wim Wenders), or themes (transnational cinema, cinema and the city, film and history, film and literature, etc.). This course may be repeated for credit with different content. It counts toward the Minor in Cinema Studies. Knowledge of German is not required.
GER355H5: The Theatre of Bertolt Brecht
This course will study selected plays by Brecht and investigate his dramatic theories and stage techniques. All readings will be in German.
GER370H5: German for a Global Context: Business and International Relations I
Taught in German. An introduction to the use of German in a global and professional context, focusing on German for business and international relations. Emphasis on oral and written communication.
GER371H5: German for a Global Context: Business and International Relations II
Taught in German. An introduction to the use of German in a global and professional context, focusing on German for business and international relations. Emphasis on oral and written communication.
GER450H5: Advanced Seminar in German Literature
Topic, genre, period, and author studies. This course may be repeated for credit with different content.
GER475H5: Advanced Seminar in German Cultural Studies
This course is an in-depth study of different topics in the cultures of German-speaking countries. It may be repeated for credit with different content.
GER490H5: Independent Study
An independent research paper or scholarly project supervised by a member of staff on a literary or cultural topic. Students must submit a written proposal that includes a provisional project or paper title, plan of study and preliminary bibliography. Open only to students in their fourth year of study.
GGR111H5: Human Geography
The course introduces human geography through an exploration of the evolution of geography to modern traditions, the measurement of geographic space and phenomena and the spatial interactions of people with the environment. Students gain an understanding of geographic principles through lectures and course material and develop fieldwork skills through practical sessions and field exercises. This course fulfills 1 field day.
GGR112H5: Physical Geography
This physical geography course provides a broad introduction to the Earth System, involving the atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere and their interactions, at local to planetary spatial scales. It examines natural and anthropogenic origins of environmental change. Key methods and techniques used by physical geographers to study the Earth System are covered in lectures, readings, practical sessions and field work. Fieldwork is integral to all sub-disciplines of geography, and a major component of this course. There is no substitute for direct, hands-on exploration of the natural world. This course fulfills 1 field day.
GGR201H5: Introduction to Geomorphology
This course provides an introduction to the principles and concepts of geomorphology, the study of the processes that shape the surface of the earth. The course adopts a process-oriented approach to the study of the variety of landforms found in the natural environment. Topics are mainly taken from a Canadian perspective and include energy flows through the land, weathering and erosion (fluvial, coastal, chemical, aeolian, and glacial), hillslope materials, drainage basin morphology, periglacial environments, and human modification of the landscape.
GGR202H5: Geography of Canada
This course will spotlight how Canada, as a nation, is constructed through historical and contemporary systems of inclusions and exclusions. Taking a geographic approach to Canada means taking a look at the social construction of ‘Canada’ through the politics and production of spaces. We will explore how landscape, borders, regions, territory, land, and environment are imagined, organized, contested and fought for by individuals and communities.
GGR207H5: Cities, Urbanization and Development
This course will introduce students to urban social processes, urban form and urban history. A particular emphasis will be placed on global urbanization, internal spatial and social structure of cities, as well as past and contemporary urban problems.
GGR208H5: Population Geography
This course examines the link between people and places from a global perspective. The course will cover topics related to population patterns and processes, geographic theories related to population and sustainability, as well as the tools used by geographers to study population size, composition and migration. This course fulfills 1 field day.
GGR209H5: Economic Geography
An introduction to the interaction of the economic, social and political institutions that determine the quality of life in a particular place. Subjects covered range from economic efficiency and social equity to the location dynamics of value chains. The emphasis of the course is on Canadian examples.
GGR210H5: Social Geographies
Social geography is concerned with the ways in which social relations, identities and inequalities are produced across space. This course examines social geography in the North American context with a specific focus on identity/difference and inequalities in cities. We will explore cities as sites of both cosmopolitan inclusion and exclusion.
GGR214H5: Global Weather and Climate
The climates of the globe are created from the kinds of weather systems which usually occur. This course surveys the weather systems of the globe and the geography which helps to transform them into regional climates. It uses just enough physics to show you how it all works and how we can make informed assessments about ideas on climatic change.
GGR217H5: Fundamentals of Hydrology
Hydrology is the study of the quantity, quality, storage, and transfer of the world's freshwater. The presence of water on and in the continents and atmosphere sustains the terrestrial biosphere, including human life. This course focuses on the central concepts of hydrology by taking a systems approach to the movement and storage of water on and in a watershed. Based on the framework of the water cycle, the course emphasizes the physical processes that control the stores and transfers of water and energy in the Earth system. This course serves as a gateway to the more advanced treatment of hydrology in upper levels, as well as providing a solid understanding of the fundamentals of the science of water for students in other streams of physical geography, environmental science, earth science, and biology.
GGR227H5: Ecosystems and Environmental Change
This course introduces the rapidly advancing fields of ecosystem science through the exploration of how ecosystems respond to climate change, pollution, and intensive natural resource management. The impacts from anthropogenic stressors on ecosystem functioning are often complex, with interactions occurring among plants, microorganisms, and physical and chemical environments. Lecture topics and case studies focus primarily on important representative Canadian ecosystems that also play vital roles in the resource sector including forests, agricultural land, wetlands and aquatic ecosystems.
GGR252H5: Retail Geography
Commercial activities are a significant and visible part of our social system. We are what we consume, and our consumption priorities describe our society. Consumption practices are mediated through the action of retailers and the preference of consumers. The course examines the organization of the retail economy and considers relationships between retail practices and environmental, ethical and social justice concerns. Likewise it explores how social, environmental and ethical beliefs of consumers influence their purchasing practices, the connections between consumer behaviour and the practices of retailers and the possibilities for developing a retail economy that better aligns with societal concerns for social justice, ethical production and environmental sustainability.
GGR265H5: (Under)development and Health
In this course students will be introduced to contemporary development and health issues by examining historical experiences, social, political, economic and environmental processes. This approach will help highlight the vast diversity and address some of the many questions about the region including: What processes underlie famine and food insecurity? What are the underlying causes of the conflict and genocide in some regions? What processes explain spatial disparities in health, or regional and gender differences in HIV rates and the outbreak of rare diseases like Ebola? The course will rely on case studies from the Sub-Saharan (SSA), one of the most diverse and intriguing regions in the world, to provide an understanding of the complexity in each topic.
GGR276H5: Spatial Data Science I
Introduction to the study of geographical phenomena using descriptive and inferential statistics. Fundamentals of geographic data and statistical problem solving using non-spatial and spatial descriptive statistics. Decision making using evidence gathered from inferential statistical analysis. Graphical summary, geographic visualization and mapping of analytical results. Application of state of the art software for statistical analysis. Provides background for future studies in geographic information systems and advanced statistical analysis. The course strikes a balance between developing an understanding of core non-spatial and spatial statistical concepts, while demonstrating technical proficiency in the application of software to the study of geographical questions.
GGR277H5: Social Research Methods in Geography
This course introduces students to the range of social research methods and approaches used in the field of human geography. The course will cover research design, research ethics, data collection methods including interviews, focus groups, surveys, etc., ethics in conducting research with human subjects, and data analysis and interpretation. This course fulfills 1 field day.
GGR278H5: Introduction to GIScience
Introduction to models of representation and management of geographical data for scientific analysis. Basic quantitative methods and techniques for geographic data analysis, including collection, manipulation, description and interpretation. Practical exercises using GIS and statistical software packages with examples drawn from both physical and human geography.
GGR300H5: Special Topics in Human Geography
This course explores a particular area within human geography. Topics will vary from year to year. See department website for details. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
GGR301H5: Pandemics, Inequality, and Health: Exploring the Nexus of Health Disparities in Crisis
Through an interdisciplinary lens, this course will examine the unequal distribution of health outcomes during pandemics and how social, economic, and political factors contribute to these disparities. In doing so, this course will explore existing and historical political, social, and systemic inequalities that have persisted and widened during pandemics and health crises with a particular focus on marginalized populations that are disproportionately affected by pandemics and social inequities. Using case studies and contemporary examples, this course will analyze how socioeconomic factors, including access to healthcare, education, housing, and economic stability influence and worsen health outcomes and wellbeing during pandemics. Students will also explore the science that inform local and global interventions and policy responses aimed at reducing disparities and promoting resilience in communities facing the dual burden of pandemics and social inequities.
GGR304H5: Dendrochronology
Tree rings are a powerful natural archive for addressing research questions across a range of spatial and temporal scales, owing to the fact that they are annually resolved, long-lived (e.g., multi-century) and cover a large portion of the Earth's surface. Tree-rings reflect changes in their local environment, and they are sensitive to factors that limit biological processes such as light, soil moisture, temperature and disturbance. Environment changes are 'encoded' in the physical properties of tree-rings (e.g., ring-width, wood density or isotopes). This course will provide students with the theoretical background and technical skills needed to cross-date, measure, analyse and interpret tree-ring data, and use this information to address practical research questions.
GGR305H5: Biogeography
Analysis of past and present plant and animal distributions, and of the environmental and biological constraints involved. The course emphasizes the impact of continental drift, Quaternary climatic changes and human interference on contemporary patterns.
GGR307H5: Environmental Soil Science
Soils play critical roles in sustaining life. They support plants and agriculture, serve as home to a plethora of organisms, recycle organic matter and nutrients, provide materials for construction, art, and medicine, preserve paleoecological and archaeological records, regulate global climate through the exchange of greenhouse gasses, and filter contaminants in water and waste. This course introduces fundamentals of soil formation, physical, chemical and biological characteristics, and classification schemes. It explores the role of, and how humans interact with, soils in Canadian forests, wetlands, agricultural systems, and industrial and urban settings. Aspects of carbon, nutrient, and pollutant biogeochemistry in soils are explored in detail. This course fulfills 2 field days.
GGR309H5: Wetland Ecosystems
Wetlands are an integral part of our biosphere, playing fundamental roles in the modification of water quality, biodiversity, and the global carbon cycle. This course focuses on the classification, hydrology, biogeochemistry, and ecology of wetland systems. The latter part of the course builds on this physical foundation by introducing management issues associated with wetland preservation, restoration and creation. This course fulfills 4 field days.
GGR311H5: Landscape Biogeography
A geographical, multi-scale perspective on the relationship between the physical landscape and the distribution, movement, dispersal, and abundance of select animal species. Landscape measures including (but not limited to) fragmentation indices, habitat metrics, and estimates of animal movement will be considered. Emphasis is placed on understanding the biology of the species being studied, the physical structure of the landscape, and the intricacies of various modeling software. Students should expect to develop a well-rounded set of skills in analyzing animal movement, and producing relevant and usable results towards the management of varied landscapes and the conservation of species.
GGR313H5: Gender and the City
In this course students will be introduced to approaches in social geography that examine the links between gender and urban environments. Specific topics and issues to be covered include, for example, poverty, work, sex trade, human trafficking and safety. Topics will be explored across multiple scales including bodies, home, neighbourhood and community. This course fulfills 1 field day.
GGR315H5: Physical Hydrology
This course centres on the advanced treatment of the physical principles involved in the occurrence and movement of water on and beneath the Earth's surface. Watershed-scale hydrologic systems are investigated, along with basic principles of fluid mechanics. Open channel hydraulics, soil water, and groundwater processes are investigated. The importance of understanding water movement in the environment by exploring the relationship of hydrology to other environmental sciences is stressed. This course fulfills 2 field days.
GGR316H5: Landforms
Systems approach to hillslope geomorphology studies; processes of erosion and deposition; mass wasting; slope forms of humid and arid regions; process-response models; applied aspects.
GGR317H5: The Cryosphere: Canada's Frozen Environments
Snow and ice dominate the Canadian landscape. There is virtually no area in Canada that escapes the influence of snow and ice. We skate on frozen ponds, ski down snow covered mountains, drive through snow blizzards and watch how ice jams in rivers cause rivers to swell and floods to occur. The duration and the thickness of snow and ice increase rapidly northwards, and glaciers are found in mountainous areas and in large parts of the Arctic region. Given that snow and ice impact heavily on the Canadian way of life, this course seeks to understand the dynamics of snow and ice in a hydrological context. This course will examine snow properties, snow cover distribution, glacier hydrology, melt runoff, and ice in its many forms (lake ice, river ice, sea ice, and ground ice). This course will also examine some of the recent observed changes occurring in the cryosphere regions of Canada. This course includes an off campus field trip. This course fulfills 2 field days.
GGR318H5: Political Geography
Political geography is concerned with the spatial expression of political entities and events. It involves analysis at a variety of scales ranging from the local to the global. The control and manipulation of territory and the imposition of political boundaries and political ideas are central to this analysis. The course provides discussion on nation building, the emergence of the state system, theories on the state, and the role of the state as provider of services and regulator of activities, and electoral geography and governance. This course fulfills 1 field day.
GGR319H5: Landscapes of Belonging
Grounded in human geography and qualitative methods, this course investigates the meaningful non-tangible relationships between humankind and environment. These relationships include emotional attachment (to place), aesthetics (of landscape), ethics (of environment), and relationships (to place and to other species). We will examine these ideas through exploration of the geohumanities; ways of seeing or apprehending the world; ways of being in place; ways of translating or reproducing the world; and possible paths forward in the relationship between us and the landscapes around us. This course fulfills 1 field day
GGR321H5: Advanced GIScience
Problem solving using geographic information systems (GIS). Essential distributed computing aspects of GIS are presented. Among topics covered are the use of logic in spatial analysis, line-of-sight analysis, route selection, site selection, and landscape analysis. Hands-on assignments are emphasized.
GGR322H5: GIS and Population Health
The purpose of this course will be to develop an appreciation for the conceptual and methodological intersections that exist between geographical information systems and population health. While population health can include incidence and prevalence of disease and ill-health, as well as concerns about service provision, this course will focus mainly on disease, injury, illness more broadly. The course will include both lectures, where foundational concepts will be introduced and related to practical lab sessions, where students will gain experience using GIS to map and study health information. Topics will include: spatial databases for population health, mapping health data, analyzing the spatial clustering of disease and/or injury, mapping and analyzing environmental and social risk factors.
GGR325H5: Business and Industrial Geography
This course uses economic principles and geographical analysis to help you understand the global economic map of the early 21st century. It aims to show the way in which economic activities are organized within and across countries and how this affects people and communities. Both broad patterns of economic organization and specific case studies will be discussed. Topics covered range from the impact of public policy on regional growth to a case study of the financial services industries. In short, the course attempts to answer the following question about the global economic map: "What is where, and why? and so what?".
GGR329H5: Environment and the Roots of Globalization
A critical discussion of how geographical factors, such as landscape, flora and fauna, might help explain why history unfolded differently on different continents. How geography might have impacted the development of agriculture, complex technologies, writing, centralized government and how, in the process, it has shaped the current world economic map.
GGR333H5: Energy and Society
A broad survey of humankind's ability to control and manipulate energy. Forms of energy and use; energy eras and transitions; past and present economic and policy debates. Understanding of technical terms, physical principles, creation of resources and trade-offs will be emphasized as a basis for discussions about current energy options.
GGR335H5: Remote Sensing Applications
The purpose of this course is to familiarize students with the various ways in which remote sensing images have been used for environmental applications among the sectors of government, industry, and academia. A part of the course will be devoted to application projects employing remote sensing and spatial data analysis in natural resources and environmental assessments.
GGR337H5: Environmental Remote Sensing
This introductory course emphasizes mastering fundamental remote sensing concepts and utilizing remotely sensed data for monitoring land resources and environmental change. Topics include surface-energy interactions, sensor systems, image interpretation, and applications for examining soil, vegetation and water resources. Upon completion of this course, students should have the necessary knowledge and skills to pursue more advanced work in digital image processing and remote sensing applications.
GGR338H5: Environmental Modeling
An application of environmental models to contemporary problems of decision-making. The course demonstrates the relevance of techniques of data management (statistics, computer systems) to issues facing Canada and the global community.
GGR349H5: Cities in Transition
The internal geography of contemporary cities is in the midst of a series of transitions related to new settlement patterns, immigration, workplace location, transportation and communication technologies, globalization, and shifts in urban governance. This course will examine these transitions and their effects on the social and political geography of the city. Themes include gentrification, spatial mismatch, concentrated poverty, political fragmentation, and the emergence of new urban forms and of the post-modern city.
GGR353H5: Disease and Death
This course will provide a geographical perspective on patterns of mortality, morbidity and access to health care among populations. It will outline current theoretical and empirical underpinnings in health geography and emphasize the links between health and place. The course covers some traditional themes in health geography including spatial dissuasion of diseases and access to health care. Using illustrations from evolving fields such as Global Health, Aboriginal Health, and Immigrant Health the course delves into the important theme of health inequalities.
GGR361H5: City Planning and Development
This course outlines important concepts and historical milestones involved in the planning and development of cities. It involves examination of urban sprawl, urban intensification efforts, and of the evolution of urban form and the interplay of private and public forces that shape the built-form of Canadian cities. This course fulfills 2 field days.
GGR362H5: Exploring Urban Neighbourhoods
With a majority of the world's population living in urban areas, nearly all of the problems and possibilities of society and human-environment relations are becoming urban questions. The city is the setting in which broad social, cultural, political, and economic processes unfold, mediated and shaped by local context. Our focus in this course is the internal structure of the city. We examine the ways in which local experiences and conditions of urban life are shaped by social differentiation and processes of change. Our examination includes considerations of race, class, gender, and ethnicity in the context of urban life as a way of exploring how identity and place shape one another. We consider different theoretical frameworks that researchers utilize to make sense of both the persistence of old problems and the emergence of new ones. Instruction will adopt a blended approach in which students will connect the concepts covered in class discussion through field work based exploration of local urban neighbourhoods. This course fulfills 5 field days.
GGR363H5: Global Migration and Health
International migration is an important global issue. Hundreds of millions of individuals currently live outside their country of origin. Most migrants leave their country of origin in search of better economic and social opportunities while others are forced to flee crises including political unrest, violence, and natural disasters. Migration poses numerous challenges for individuals, families, communities and governments including those related to health and access to health care services. This course examines contemporary international migration from a geographic perspective with a specific focus on the complex relationships among global (im)migration, health, and broader social determinants of health. Topics covered may include: migration theories, immigration trends and policies, integration and citizenship, social determinants of health, and health care policy.
GGR365H5: Trade and Globalization
This course uses economic and geographical principles to help students understand the advent of the current period of globalization. In this context, globalization refers to international trade liberalization which results in increased contacts across borders, migration, trade, and investment. Topics covered will include the history of globalization, the environment, sweatshops, development and inequalities. By the end of the course, students should have gained a deeper understanding of current controversies surrounding international trade and globalization.
GGR370H5: The Geography of Transportation
Transportation is an integral aspect of our daily lives and plays a key role in shaping the economy and the environment. Through this course, students will explore the geography of transportation. Topics will include, mobility and accessibility, transportation networks and flows, Geographic Information Systems in Transport (GIS-T), planning and policy, environmental and human health impacts, and other current issues.
GGR372H5: Geographical Analysis of Land Resources
This course focuses on the nature of land resources information and its analysis. Emphasis is on use of geographic information systems to model and analyze a variety of land resources. Topics such as terrain analysis and interpolation will be covered.
GGR374H5: Water Quality and Stream Ecosystems
Flowing water courses (streams and rivers) are unique ecosystems from lake, terrestrial, and wetland environments, and are integral in regulation of land-borne solutes to larger water bodies. This course provides a holistic treatment of the stream ecosystem, with particular emphasis on nutrient and contaminant transformation, in-stream hydraulics and morphology, the hyporheic, parafluvial, and riparian zones, as well as hillslope hydrological processes responsible for transfer of water to the stream. Variability in stream biota, community interactions, and ecosystem-level processes are also discussed. Weekly field and lab exercises provide the student with hands-on experience with the lecture material. This course fulfills 4 field days.
GGR375H5: Physical Environment of the City
The physical structure of the city results in a distinctive local climate that is linked to air and water quality, as well as to energy use. A geographical information system is used to assemble physical information from which to model the urban climatic environment, taking the example of Mississauga. Particular emphasis is placed upon the role of field measurements and satellite data as sources of geographical information.
GGR376H5: Spatial Data Science II
This course builds on quantitative methods introduced in GGR276, and aims to provide a broad study of advanced statistical methods and their use in a spatial context in physical, social, and environmental sciences. The course covers theories, methods, and applications geared towards helping students develop an understanding of the important theoretical concepts in spatial data analysis, and gain practical experience in application of spatial statistics to a variety of physical, social and environmental problems using advanced statistical software.
GGR377H5: Global Climate Change
The main focus of this course is upon the climatic aspects of environmental change which affect Great Lakes water levels, disappearing glaciers, sea level rise, desertification and dwindling water resources in an ever more populous world. These changes to the earth surface environment are explored in the context of themes and issues which were introduced in first year, with a view to answering an important question: whether policy action on climate change must wait for more science, or whether action is merely delayed by failure to appreciate science.
GGR379H5: Field Methods in Physical Geography
This course is structured around one major field trip that will occur before fall-term courses begin, preparatory work, and approximately bi-weekly course meetings during the regular academic term to complete complementary work in computer and/or wet laboratories. Field projects will involve analyses and mapping of vegetation, soils, aquatic systems, hydrology, and/or geomorphology, and subsequent data analysis. Students will be required to write one major research paper and present projects to the class. Each student is required to pay the costs of his/her transportation and accommodation. Students must register on ACORN, on a first-come first-serve and non-refundable deposit basis. The deposit must be received by the Department within one week from the first day of enrollment or the student will be dropped automatically from the course. Students should contact the Department to find out more details about the specific fieldtrip plans. This course fulfills 5 field days.
GGR381H5: Spatial Database
Students will gain basic knowledge of spatial database design, implementation, query, and sharing. Playing with real-world datasets, students will create, edit, and manage geospatial databases using a variety of commercial and open-source software such as ArcGIS and PostgreSQL.
GGR382H5: Digital Mapping and Principles of Cartography
This course will cover foundational concepts in mapmaking (cartography) using geographical information systems (GIS). The course will also explore map rendering in the digital and mobile worlds where the power of geography and cartography are leveraged through development of location based services used increasingly in everyday life. Topics covered will include but are not limited to: coordinate systems and map projections, measurement and classification, making maps using GIS, critical appraisal of mapped information. The course will combine lectures with practical sessions where foundational concepts will be applied using GIS and related technologies and software.
GGR383H5: Contaminants in the Environment
This course discusses various types of contaminants (metals, persistent organic pollutants, emerging contaminants, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, flame-retardants, micro-plastics, nano-materials, etc.) and their impacts on the environment. Lectures cover sources, transport and fate of these contaminants in various environmental media (air, water, and soil/sediment), degradation mechanisms, uptake into biological systems, and toxicity. A number of case studies such as pollutants in Arctic ecosystems and the potential risks they pose to the health of Indigenous People and the role of science in informing policy addressing pollutants will be examined. Class and group activities during tutorials, including discussions of current scientific articles, will complement lectures.
GGR384H5: Climatology of Canadian Landscapes
This course will focus on the natural surface climates of Canada. Topics covered will include Alpine and forest environments; ocean and wetland regions; and both artic and subarctic climates. Surface energy processes will be examined, and how the behavior of energy exchange varies by climate region. This course fulfills 4 field days.
GGR385H5: Indigenizing Space and Place
This course looks critically at how places and people are come to be labelled as indigenous and how this labelling is tied to political, social, economic, and environmental systems that shape the spaces in which we all live. Furthermore, this course asks how spaces and places can be indigenized and what this means for social relations. We will study these processes at multiple scales - from international solidarity networks to nationalist claims on territory to an individual's sense of belonging. We will examine a wide range of topics related to these processes such as the geographies of education, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, resource conflicts, media representations, identity formation and well-being. While we will be focusing on indigenizing geographies within the context of Canada as a settler nation, we will also engage with how indigenous geographies shape and are shaped by nationalisms in other parts of the world. As part of this course, students may have the option of participating in an international learning experience that will have an additional cost and application process. This course fulfills 1-5 field day (to be adjusted according to student activity) .
GGR387H5: Food and Globalization
A broad overview of the historical development of the global food economy and a survey of recent trends and controversies. Topics discussed range from basic food staples, food markets and trade liberalization to food security, environmental sustainability and alternative agricultural systems.
GGR389H5: Field Studies in Human Geography
This course will provide students with a first-hand exposure to the social, urban, historical and cultural geography of a North American city. During a 5-7 day stay in a city, students will apply basic field methods, such as observation and field note taking, to gain an in-depth understanding of the landscape and build environment. Students will participate in collecting primary observational data as well as gathering information gleaned from guided tours, lectures and group discussion. Admission to course will be through application due by end of March. The student's application must be submitted to the department and must include a current transcript, a current curriculum vita, and a letter of application explaining why their qualifications and interest make them suitable candidates for this field course opportunity. Applicants who meet minimum criteria will be selected for an interview. Acceptance will be based on a combination of GPA, experience, qualifications and interview performance. There is a nonrefundable fee associated with this course beyond tuition, for which the accepted students are responsible. This course fulfills 6 field days.
GGR399Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides senior undergraduate students who have developed knowledge of geography and have studied its research methods the chance to work as part of a research team, under the direction of a professor, in exchange for course credit. Students have the opportunity to be involved in original research, enhance their research skills and participate in the excitement and discovery of facilitating new knowledge. Based on the nature of the project, projects may satisfy the Sciences or Social Sciences distribution requirement. Participating faculty members post project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter semesters on the ROP website (www.utm.utoronto.ca/rop) in mid-February and students are invited to apply at that time. This course may fulfill field day components. Please consult with your supervisor.
GGR404H5: Paleoenvironmental Change
Knowledge of paleo (past) climate and environmental change is crucial to understanding Earth System dynamics and predicting future change. Students will be exposed to a spectrum of traditional and frontier methods employed in past global change research, with a focus on the Cenozoic Era (~66 million years). This course will examine varied topics such as sea level rise; climate change over geologic and societal time; the Anthropocene, onset of Northern Hemisphere glaciations; and radiometric dating. More broadly, this course aims to provide students with an understanding of how paleoenvironmental studies contribute to advancing knowledge of the Earth System.
GGR406H5: Environmental Biogeochemistry
Environmental biogeochemistry provides an introduction to the biological, chemical, and geological processes that regulate the flow of energy and matter in the environment. This seminar course explores the processes underlying biogeochemical cycles of major elements such as carbon and nutrients, and examines how these key cycles have been altered during the Anthropocene, an era of unprecedented human-induced environmental and climate change. Topics covered include biogeochemical processes in atmospheric, ocean, freshwater and terrestrial compartments; emerging techniques (eg., stable-isotopes and paleo-proxies) used in biogeochemistry; and how disruptions to biogeochemical processes are at the root of many environmental issues such as eutrophication, climate change, ozone depletion, ocean acidification and toxic metal contamination.
GGR407H5: Ecohydrology
Ecohydrology explores the feedback between biological, hydro-logical and biogeochemical processes that help shape ecosystem form and function. These feedbacks are central to the regulation of the global climate and water resources. With pronounced and rapid human modification to the landscape and climate system this field of study is increasingly relevant to formulate mitigation strategies. This seminar and research course explores the feedback processes most crucial to climate change and water resources. Topics include ecosystem control on the water balance, the role of peat-lands in ameliorating climate change, hydro-logic controls on species diversity, and the role of the watershed in mitigating human pollutants. Students are expected to conduct independent and collaborative study.
GGR415H5: Geographies of Indigenous Health
Indigenous people of Canada - the First Nations, Metis and Inuit peoples - have very rich and diverse histories. However, common to most are large disparities in health compared to the non-Indigenous population. This seminar course will examine the health conditions of Indigenous peoples in Canada including a focus on the geographic, historic, and contemporary factors leading to health disparities and inequalities. The course will also examine health and well-being through an Indigenous worldview.
GGR418H5: Geopolitics
The course focus is classical and contemporary geopolitical theories. We examine different and competing ideas and consider how and if geographic logic of the international (or global) political order has changed. Discussion will initially focus on the historical progression of geopolitical reasoning and then will proceed to discuss imperial rivalries, concepts of hegemony and world order and the geopolitics of the Cold War and the post-Cold War eras. The final section of the course will consider theoretical struggles surrounding the geopolitics in the early 21st. century and the challenges posed by critical geopolitics, social movements, environmental changes and feminist theory. Throughout, the primary concern is how the effects of scale, space and power in global politics is understood and experienced.
GGR420H5: Geography of Finance and Financial Crisis
The global financial crisis brought to mainstream attention the important role played by finance, and new and strange terms such as subprime, derivatives, ABCP, libor, CDS, CDOs. The aftermath of crisis also witnessed mortgage foreclosures and evictions, factory closures, bailouts of large banks and hedge funds, and the implosion of public finances in a number of European nations. This course seeks to understand the spatial organization of financial flows, intermediaries, and instruments, and how these may be related to the apparently disparate phenomenon cited above. It explores how this geography of finance might be related to the production of financial crisis, and how the global geography of international finance relates to the public finances of nations and municipalities, pension and hedge funds, and individual investors. This course begins by exploring the workings of international finance, and examining the history of financial crisis, including both the current crisis and the great depression. We consider the different theories of financial crisis emanating from disparate political-economic-geographical perspectives, as well as the divergent policy implications that flow from such theories. The course then explores on the literature regarding the localized effects of the geography of finance, from the geography of sub-prime lending and foreclosures, to unemployment in selected European cities, the geography of new start-ups in developing nations, and the geography of credit card debt, bankruptcies and defaults.
GGR426H5: The Geographies of Human Rights
This course examines the promises, problems and paradoxes of human rights. We will study the local, national and global aspects of human rights enforcement and violation. By examining specific case studies, we shall examine how so-called 'universal' human rights are articulated and practiced differently in different places. Throughout this course, we shall explore human rights as means of empowerment as well as oppression.
GGR437H5: Cloud-based Image Analysis
This course builds on the fundamental remote sensing concepts, techniques, and applications introduced in GGR337H5, and aims to provide an advanced study of digital image processing and remote sensing applications. In specific, this course will use a cloud-based platform for large-scale analysis of satellite imagery, including mapping ground features, detecting changes, and identifying trends on the Earth's surface.
GGR440H5: Drone Remote Sensing
Industries from agriculture through to defense and mining are investing in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) technology to support operational and strategic objectives. This course will cover the adoption of UAV technologies as a remote sensing tool and the impact of logistical, regulatory, and technical hurdles on UAV technology now and in the future. Through the course, students will gain the knowledge requirements to operate a UAV following Transport Canada guidelines and develop skills in processing UAV imagery into information assets that support applications where high resolution, spatial accuracy, and high detail is required.
GGR442H5: GIS Capstone Project
Students apply prerequisite knowledge and techniques to real-world GIS projects requested by external partners. Through background research, proposal, data management, and implementation, students develop GIS professional competencies, which will be demonstrated through collaboration, presentations and reports.
GGR444H5: Space Time Data Analysis
This course is designed for senior undergraduate students in a workshop format with a specific focus on application. Topics include space-time data collection, processing, analysis, and visualization. Widely used space-time analysis tools and newly developed data mining techniques will be introduced and discussed with examples and hands-on practices in the class. With practical experience on real-world space-time datasets, students will learn the basic knowledge and various tools for analyzing spatiotemporal datasets. The course encompasses practical instruction and training in ArcGIS Pro to use multiple public available space-time datasets. The primary outcome for students taking this course will be an independent analysis of a substantial space-time dataset, a formal report of the analysis, and a professional oral presentation.
GGR461H5: Advanced Urban Planning
This course will build on the material taught in GGR361H5, City Planning. This course will delve deeper into the scholarship related to urban planning and urban development more broadly such as planning for multicultural cities, ethics in planning and planning ethics, contemporary scholarly theories of planning (collaborative planning theory etc.), planning for more equal cities and planning for sustainability.
GGR463H5: Geographic Information Analysis and Processing
This course focuses on the digital representation and analysis of geospatial phenomena using open source software. Class discussions cover the foundational methods, algorithms, and scripting languages used in GIS analysis, which are reinforced in lab using current, widely used open source software. The course is structured as a series of modules that culminate in a final project. Students are encouraged to incorporate individual areas of interest into class discussion and assignments. Successful students will broaden their GIS toolset, increasing the flexibility of their work.
GGR479H5: Special Topics in Physical Geography
An advanced seminar dealing with topics in physical geography, to be selected according to staff and student interests. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
GGR484H5: The Climate of the Arctic
High latitude environments are becoming the focus of increasing scientific attention because of their role in global environmental change. The implications of changes occurring to the sea ice and snowcover are far reaching and can have impacts on physical, biological and human systems both within and beyond the region. This course will provide a comprehensive examination of climates of high latitudes. Topics that will be covered include the Arctic energy budget and atmospheric circulation, the hydrologic cycle in the Arctic, the ocean-sea ice-climate interactions and feedbacks, modeling the Arctic climate system as well as an evaluation of recent climate variability and trends.
GGR489H5: Special Topics in Human Geography
An advanced seminar dealing with topics in human geography, to be selected according to staff and student interests. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
GGR494H5: Special Topics in GIS
(Formerly GGR394H5) Studies of selected topics in Geographic Information Systems not covered in regular courses. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
GGR497H5: Human Geography Independent Research Project
This independent project course is designed to give students experience in the definition and execution of a one-term research study on a human geography topic, under the guidance of a member of the faculty. Students who wish to pursue this option with a specific faculty member or who have an idea for a research project should approach the faculty member early - before the start of the academic term - to negotiate the terms of the project.
GGR498H5: Physical Geography Independent Research Project
This independent project course is designed to give students experience in the definition and execution of a one-term research study on a physical geography topic, under the guidance of a member of the faculty. Students who wish to pursue this option with a specific faculty member or who have an idea for a research project should approach the faculty member early - before the start of the academic term - to negotiate the terms of the project.
GLB201H5: Global Leadership: Past, Present, Futures
The evolution and exercise of leadership is examined in the context of globalization. Terminology, case studies, and practical examples are used to consider questions such as: Why did globalization become a dominant frame? How have narratives of globalization changed over time? How does late 20th century globalization differ from earlier processes of colonization? What are expectations going forward? The assumed scale of globalization and how it manifests differently in various geographies, societies, and contexts is assessed. Students reflect on the uneven experiences of globalization in their own lives, communities, and worlds they observe and pass through. Students challenge ideas of how good leadership is conceived, the dynamics that are assumed (e.g., leaders and followers), and who/what might be left out (e.g., gender, race, class), today and in the future.
GRK101H5: Introductory Ancient Greek I
An introduction to Ancient Greek for students who have no knowledge of the language. This course also serves as a preparation for Intermediate Greek courses.
GRK102H5: Introductory Ancient Greek II
An introduction to Ancient Greek for students who have no knowledge of the language. This course also serves as a preparation for Intermediate Greek courses.
GRK213H5: Introductory Ancient Greek III
The final course of the introduction to Ancient Greek for students who have some training in the language. This course also serves as a preparation for Intermediate Greek courses.
GRK221H5: Intermediate Ancient Greek
Reading of selections of Ancient Greek prose and verse with a systematic study of the Greek Language.
HIN211H5: Introductory Hindi I
This course is for students with no prior knowledge of the Hindi language. Students will learn to read and write Hindi in Devanagari script with basic rules of Hindi grammar. Introduction to phonology, grammar, syntax of modern Hindi; emphasis on basic writing and reading.
HIN212H5: Introductory Hindi II
This course focuses on further developing grammatical structures from HIN211H5 and continues to the next level of Hindi grammar. Students will be introduced to vocabulary of next level to advance their speaking and writing skills by writing compositions and short essay.
HIN311H5: Readings in Hindi
This course is designed for students who have a fair knowledge of Hindi. In this course children's stories from Indian classical writings Panchtantra, Jataka and other folk stories will be discussed.
HIN312H5: Intermediate Hindi I
This course focuses on the further development of grammatical structures from Introduction to Hindi and continues to the next level of Hindi grammar and communicative skills. Students will be introduced to the vocabulary of intermediate level to advanced. Their speaking and writing skills will be developed by writing compositions and short essays.
HIN313H5: Intermediate Hindi II
As a continuation of Intermediate Hindi I (HIN312H5), this course aims at developing student’s language to the next level, focusing on specific problems of grammar and essay writing. It also includes simple Hindi readings that introduce Hindi literature. Samples of modern Hindi writings will be discussed.
HIN411H5: Hindi Culture and Media
The course is designed for students who have completed intermediate Hindi. The course enhances all four language skills through a focus on culture delivered via various forms of the media. The teaching material for the course will largely include segments from Hindi films, soap operas, Music TV, cine magazines or related items from newspapers in Hindi. Students who take this course for Language Citation (in Hindi) notation must complete written course work in Hindi.
HIN412Y5: Advanced Hindi
This course is designed for students who already have a good knowledge of Hindi; it offers them an opportunity to effectively use the knowledge attained in previous years to read and understand advanced texts in sociocultural and literary studies, and engage in discussing issues pertaining to modern Indian society.
HIS101H5: Topics in History
This writing-intensive course introduces students to a historical topic as well as to the research and writing skills that are part of the historian's craft. Content in any given year depends on the instructor. Visit the Departmental web site at History for further information.
HIS102H5: A History of Discoveries and Inventions in the Ancient, Medieval, and Early Modern World.
This course challenges us to reconsider what we think we know about discoveries and inventions, and to reassess how they have shaped our world. It outlines debates around theories of progress, significance, continuity and change, and cause and consequence; guides students through the interpretation of primary and secondary sources; and introduces the discipline of history while helping students develop the research and writing skills that are part of the historian’s craft.
HIS103H5: Revolutions in History
Revolutions are sudden, violent, and capable of changing the structure of societies and nations. They are some of the most dramatic events in history because they raise all kinds of questions about how society should be structured, maintained, and organized. Over the course of the term, students will learn about the principle theories of revolution, their impact, and they will reflect on the ways in which our own assumptions and ideologies have been influenced by them.
HIS104H5: A History of Here
This writing-intensive course introduces students to the histories of Mississauga, the Region of Peel, and the University of Toronto as well as to the research and writing skills that are part of the historian’s craft. We focus on Indigenous peoples, colonialism, immigration, and institution-building, questioning and complicating the celebratory narratives promoted by the University, the city, and the region.
HIS105H5: A Brief History of Capitalism
This course offers a history of capitalism. In twelve weeks, we study nearly six hundred years of human history, examining how the profit motive has reshaped lives, landscapes, and values. We consider how the drive to accumulate capital has given rise to distinctive legal, racial, and religious regimes.
HIS106H5: A History of Sex
This course examines the history of sex, the history of the body, and the history of sexuality from the past to the present. Topics include the construction of sexual identities (including non-normative sexualities); desire and its regulation; and the porous boundaries between sex and gender, especially in relationship to trans history.
HIS107H5: Critical Historiography
This writing-intensive course introduces students to critical historical thinking and writing in the humanities and social sciences and explores the emergence of History as a field of academic inquiry. By learning to reason and to write historically, students in this course will acquire the foundational skills that are essential for their educational success in higher level courses.
HIS108H5: Encounters Across the Atlantic
The movement of people, goods, and ideas across the Atlantic Ocean changed the world and shaped the modern age. This course considers how contact among Indigenous Americans, Africans, and Europeans between 1000 and 1800 contributed to ideologies of conquest and colonization; the development of a global economy; forced and voluntary migration on an unprecedented scale; and new forms of resistance.
HIS200H5: Topics in History
An in-depth examination of historical issues. Content in any given year depends on the instructor. Visit the Departmental web site at History for further information.
HIS201H5: Introduction to Middle Eastern History
An introduction to the history of Islamic culture from its beginnings to modern times.
HIS203H5: The Making of the Atlantic World (1000-1800)
An introduction to African, European, and American peoples around and across the Atlantic Ocean between 1000 and 1800. Themes include ideologies and practices of exploration, conquest, and colonization; perceptions and misunderstandings; forced and voluntary migration; effects of disease; resistance and revolt; and the "Atlantic World" as a field of study.
HIS204H5: History of the Ottoman Empire, 1299-1923
This course provides an overview of the history of the Ottoman Empire, the longest lasting Muslim superpower and a major player in world history, from its inception in 1299 until its dissolution after World War I. Among current members of the United Nations, close to 40 member states were, for periods ranging from 50 to 600 years, integral parts of the Ottoman state. Present-day conflicts in political hot-spots, such as the Middle East, Bosnia, Kosovo, Cyprus and the Caucasus can only be understood through exploring their origin in the Ottoman past. At the same time in many cases the Ottoman Empire was an example of tolerance and accommodation of various ethnic and religious groups.
HIS210H5: Introduction to Digital Humanities
What is Digital Humanities? We explore the field's debates, platforms, tools, projects, and critical perspectives, as well as its current core practices: digital exhibits, digital mapping, text analysis, information visualization, and network analysis. We discuss the relationship between technology and knowledge production in historical and critical perspective.
HIS211H5: Screening History
This course explores the relationship of media - film, television and new visual technologies - to history: as historical representations, as sources of history, and as history itself. The course examines the impact of popular representations of history on screen and the controversies that emerge over these constructions of the past.
HIS212H5: The History of Capitalism
This course historicizes capitalism and all of the subcategories that derive from this mode of production: labour, management, the commodity chain, marketing, advertising, finance, exchange value, and the multinational corporation, to name but a few. Students will be introduced to classic texts as well as to more recent work that uses historical methods to study the social, cultural, environmental, gendered, and ethical aspects of economic life under capitalism. The course takes a global perspective, and the focus will range from examining the historical development of capitalism in Canada, the United States, Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe.
HIS213H5: A History of the Present
This course takes as its starting point current world events of global significance. We focus on 3-4 flashpoints/crises/events shaping contemporary global politics and culture, and move back in time to understand how current events have been shaped by longer histories of power, inequality, conflict and contestation.
HIS214H5: Comparative Genocide
What are the historical circumstances through which mass killings emerge? An introduction to the history of genocide in comparative perspective, with an emphasis on the 20th century case studies. Course themes include denial and forgetting; justice and truth; and public memory.
HIS221H5: Themes in Medieval History
This course is a brief survey of European history from the late Roman Empire to the fifteenth century emphasizing select themes that created the shape of medieval civilization and influenced developments in subsequent centuries. Content in any given year depends on the instructor. Visit the Departmental web site at History for further information.
HIS230H5: Introduction to European History 1300-1815
European history from the late Middle Ages to the end of the Napoleonic Wars, emphasing the major political, cultural, economic and social changes that created early modern Europe.
HIS236H5: Introduction to British History
An introduction to some of the major themes in British history. Depending on the year, these might include examples from prehistoric, Roman, medieval, early modern, modern, and contemporary periods. Both developments within Britain itself, and connections between Britain and the wider world, are considered.
HIS241H5: Revolution and Social Conflict in Europe: 1789-1890
Nineteenth-Century Europe is arguably the most revolutionary century in human history. Around 1800, Europe was a relative backwater characterized by agricultural economies and monarchial government. By 1900 a new decidedly modern world emerged, shaped by the priorities of industry, capitalism, and democracy. What caused these dramatic changes?
HIS242H5: Nations, Ideologies, and Conflict in Contemporary European History
Nations, Ideologies, and Conflict offers a sweeping overview of European history from the eve of WWI to the present with attention to the key ideas--Liberalism, Communism, Fascism, Nazism, Populism, and Globalization--that drive social, political and cultural change.
HIS250H5: Introduction to Russian History
An introductory survey that examines the political, social, and cultural developments that shaped the Russian empire from the settlement of Kiev in the 9th century to the collapse of the Romanov dynasty in 1917.
HIS255H5: Introduction to Histories of Extraction and the Environment
An introduction to the historical and ongoing disruptions of colonial extraction in Canada and their treatment within the historical record. From natural resources to Indigenous lands and knowledges, this course will deepen students’ understandings of the processes, industries and technologies responsible for settler colonial extraction in Canada.
HIS261H5: Introduction to Canadian History
A survey of the political, social, and economic history of Canada, topically treated from the beginning to the present. This course is intended for students from disciplines outside of History looking for a broad-ranging approach to Canadian history.
HIS262H5: What is Canada?
A broad survey of the history of Canada from the beginning to the present focused on changing notions of the country,its territory, and peoples. We will question widely held beliefs about Canada, both in the past and the present,through deep engagement with primary sources and historiography.
HIS271H5: US History, Colonial Era to 1877
A survey of the main developments and themes of U.S. history from the colonial period to the end of Reconstruction.
HIS272H5: US History, 1877-present
How did the US move from the Civil War to a world power? What have been the tensions between national ideals of "liberty for all" and US market expansion? Topics covered include: Jim Crow South; immigration and urbanization; Populism and the Progressivism; consumerism; many wars; post-45 social movements; Reaganism and after.
HIS282H5: Introduction to South Asian History
A critical introduction to the main themes and questions defining South Asian history from its beginnings to the present. Emphasis will be placed particularly on the period after the 1750s, which saw the emergence of British imperialism, anti-colonial struggles, and the formation of new nation states after 1947.
HIS284H5: Introduction to East Asian History
A survey of East Asian civilization and history from antiquity to modernity. It particularly explores the interrelations of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean cultural and political development.
HIS285H5: War and Memory in Modern East Asia
This course examines how Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea and the US try to remember the Asian Pacific War. It focuses particularly on the bitterly contested representations of war atrocities such as the Nanjing Massacre, the comfort women system, and the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
HIS290H5: Introduction to Latin American History
An introduction to the history of Latin America from pre-conquest indigenous empires to the end of the 20th century. Lectures, films, readings, and tutorials explore a set of themes in historical context: nationalism, authoritarianism, religion, racism, patriarchy, and Latin America's multiple interactions with the outside world.
HIS295H5: Introduction to African History
A survey of African civilization and history from antiquity to modernity. The course also examines the transformation of Africa from colonial domination to postcolonial states, social movements, and ideologies.
HIS299Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This courses provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their second year to work in the research project of a professor in return for 299Y course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
HIS301H5: North Africa and Western Asia Before World War I
A cultural history of North Africa and Western Asia from the 1870s to World War I. This late Ottoman period, known in Europe as the fin de siècle, was marked by imperialisms, nationalisms, and revolutions, as well as anxiety and alienation, environmental degradation, famine, and genocide.
HIS305H5: 1898: Empires and Conflict in Global History
The Klondike Gold Rush, imperial conflict in North Africa, and the Spanish American War: 1898 is a pivotal year in global history. This course investigates the circuits of empire, capitalism, and environmental extraction in a rapidly industrializing and increasingly interconnected world.
HIS306H5: The Cold War
This course will review the alliance systems and conflicts that dominated international relations in the period 1945-1991. It will examine specific incidents such as the Berlin Blockade and Airlift of 1948-49, the Hungarian uprising of 1956, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War, and the Prague Spring, as well as the broader strategies and tactics that followed by the two superpowers and their allies. Particular attention will be given to the documentary evidence that has been declassified in the past two decades, and the light it sheds on earlier developments.
HIS307H5: The Russian Revolutions of 1917
The fall of the Romanovs and the coming to power of the Bolsheviks have been controversial. This course examines interpretations of the 1917 events using original sources from 1917 in English.
HIS308H5: Themes in the History of Women Before 1800
This course focuses on the history of women before the 19th century emphasizing select themes in ancient, medieval, and early modern history.
HIS310H5: The History of Women Since 1800
This course is a brief survey of the history of women in since 1800 emphasizing select themes in modern history.
HIS315H5: Indigenous Peoples and Immigrants in Canada
This course examines the intertwined social, cultural, economic, and political histories of Indigenous peoples and immigrants in Canada. It explores the influence on lived experience of a wide variety of phenomena and ideas including community, place, indigeneity, ethnicity, gender, colonialism, empire, and mobility from the distant to the present.
HIS318H5: Canadian Environmental History: Contact to Conservation
This course focuses on the interaction of people and the environment. Themes include environmental change as a result of: European exploration and settlement; the transfer of animals, plants and diseases; the impact of contact and the "Columbian exchange" on indigenous peoples; the fur trade; the lumber industry; the destruction of the bison, the reserves system, and immigrant settlers in the West; the emergence of the conservation movement in Canada.
HIS319H5: Canadian Environmental History: Conservation to the Modern Environmental Movement
This course focuses on the interaction of people and the environment in the 20th Century. Themes include the environmental impact of industrialization, urbanization, and the revolution in transportation, and of resource development in the mining, oil, and gas industries; the destruction and preservation of wildlife; parks and the wilderness idea; the modern environmental movement; the contested world of modern agriculture and the food industry; the collapse of the fisheries; Canadian public policy, environmental law, and Canada's international role concerning the environment.
HIS321H5: Medieval and Early Modern Scotland
This course examines the political, social, cultural, and religious history of Scotland during the medieval and early modern periods. Topics include the Anglo-Norman impact, the Wars of Independence, Stewart monarchy, the growth of towns and trade, Highlands and Lowlands, the medieval Church, the Protestant Reformation, and Union with England.
HIS323H5: The Rwandan Genocide: History, Violence, and Identity
This course examines the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, situated within larger historical frameworks of the nature of precolonial polities, the impact of colonialism, and the crises of postcolonial state building. Through a close examination of primary sources and historical arguments, this course will explore history and memory, violence and trauma, identity and belonging, justice and reconciliation.
HIS324H5: Settler Colonialism, Violence, and Revolution: The Mau Mau Rebellion in Kenya
This course examines colonial violence and revolution through the case of the Mau Mau Rebellion in Kenya. Through an examination of primary sources and historical arguments, this course explores settler colonialism; local moral economies and land; gender and generational conflict; propaganda and revolutionary thought; and decolonization, memory, and contemporary legacies of Mau Mau.
HIS325H5: Modern African History
Looking at the last one hundred years of modern African history, this course will examine the consolidation of colonial societies; transformations in gender, sexuality and identity politics; the roots of ethnic patriotisms, racial ideologies and African nationalisms; the role of violence in colonial and postcolonial governance; and the contemporary in historical perspective.
HIS326H5: History of Women in Canada
A course on the experiences of women in what is now Canada, from the deep past through the twentieth century. It addresses questions related to the many roles women occupied in Indigenous and settler societies and how these have changed over time. The course explores political, social, and cultural movements alongside personal relationships and lives.
HIS327H5: The Early Medieval World
Disorder, destruction, the dissolution of old and the creation of new societies, and a cultural revival that continues to influence intellectual and literary traditions: these are the big themes examined in this history of the early medieval world.
HIS330H5: Politics and Political Change in Latin America
Examines major movements and cultures in Latin American politics from independence to present day. Topics include: nineteenth-century militarism; revolutionary socialism in Cuba and Nicaragua; military dictatorships in Argentina, Brazil and Chile; and recent grassroots and transnational political movements. Emphasizes the integral roles of gender, race and the United States in the region's political processes.
HIS331H5: Revolution and Counterrevolution in Central America
In late Cold War Central America, the aspirations of long-oppressed peoples collided with the zeal of entrenched military dictatorships. This course examines the logic of violence in civil war by introducing students to the revolutionary movements and the counterrevolutionary terror that rocked Guatemala, Nicaragua, and El Salvador between 1954-1996.
HIS336H5: The Imperial Victorian World
This course investigates the development of British politics and the emergence of its global empire from the early nineteenth century to 1900. It engages with key historical issues such as the development of representative government, imperialism, colonial relationships, the industrial revolution, and new political ideologies (i.e. conservativism, liberalism, socialism).
HIS337H5: History of Information and Media
In (mis)information age, it seems that the more we know, the less we understand. This course examines how data, fact, and information all have their own history, and that their production and circulation are shaped by politics, emotion, capital, as well as mediated by technology.
HIS338H5: The Holocaust in Nazi Germany and Occupied Europe
This course provides an expansive survey of the Nazi extermination of European Jews, including the ideological underpinnings of the genocide; the policies leading up to the "Final Solution" in Germany and the rest of Europe, a broad overview of the varied reactions and policies of many countries throughout Europe, the role of the Vatican and the response of the Jews themselves as well as the international community; the motivation of the perpetrators; and the complexities of survival in the ghettoes and concentration camps.
HIS339H5: Postwar Germany, 1945-present
This course will explore the history of Germany beginning in 1945. We will examine the evolution of Germany from a dictatorship to a divided state by looking at Allied Policies in the 1940s, the economic wonder of the 1950s, and the tensions between East and West Germany until the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989. This course will look at both East and West Germany's very different confrontations with the Nazi past, the student movement of the 1960s, domestic terrorism in the 1970s, the breakdown of communism in the 1980s, and the growing pains of reunification that exist to the present day. All of these developments will be seen through legal, political, cultural, and media trends.
HIS340H5: The Reformation in Europe
The focus of this course will be the religious movements of sixteenth century that are described collectively as the Reformation: Lutheranism, Calvinism, the Radical Reformation and the Counter-Reformation.
HIS341H5: England in the Age of Reformation and Revolution
Tudor and Stuart England (1485-1714) is a transformative period in English history. From the reign of Henry VIII, the Reformation, and the Scientific Revolution, to the execution of Charles I and the Glorious Revolution, this course charts out England’s dramatic development from peripheral backwater to emerging world superpower.
HIS342H5: History of Quebec and French Canada
This course examines the history of French Canada, focusing in particular on the period from the 1830s to the present. It explores questions of culture, political community, language, and geography, looking to these aspects of historical experience to situate Quebec and French Canada with respect to North America’s English-speaking majority as well as to the French-speaking nations of Europe, Africa, and elsewhere in the Americas. Proficiency in French is not required for students enrolled in HIS342H5, though those with French-language skills will be given the opportunity to work with French-language material. This course is taught in conjunction with FRE342H5.
HIS355H5: Histories of Extraction and the Future of the Environment
This course uses Indigenous, transnational and feminist frameworks to examine colonialism’s impact on the environment. From Turtle Island (Canada/U.S.) to Aotearoa (New Zealand), this course dismantles colonial histories, extractive industries and the state apparatuses that govern our relationship to the environment to form alternative understandings of environmental histories and futures.
HIS357H5: The Renaissance
A cultural history of the 15th and 16th centuries set against the socio-economic background. The course will concentrate upon the development of the Renaissance in Italy and will deal with its manifestations in Northern Europe.
HIS358H5: Canada Since World War Two
This course examines Canadian developments in the post-war period. It explores the tremendous economic expansion in that period. It surveys trends in immigration and urban development. The course also examines social movements and social change, as well as the growth of nationalism in Canada and Quebec.
HIS366H5: Diasporic Histories & Cultures
This course explores a number of significant historic diasporas - and sites of diaspora - from Constantinople to Al-Andalus to Shanghai, to the United States and the United Kingdom, and to Tel Aviv and the West Bank, through historical record, fiction, memoir and film.
HIS367H5: Diasporic Canada
This course explores the history of Canada as a recipient of diasporic communities, arriving from many parts of the world and bringing a great variety of cultures and experiences.
HIS369H5: Great Lakes Aboriginal History
Algonkian and Iroquoian history from the eve of European contact to the present in the Great Lakes region of today's Canada and the United States. Algonkian and Iroquoian societies in the 16th century, change over time, material culture, and inter-cultural relations among natives and between natives and Euroamericans.
HIS371H5: The Americas: Interaction and Inequality
An introduction to the history of Americas (the present-day territories of the Caribbean, Canada, Latin America and the United States) from pre-conquest indigenous societies to the end of the 20th century. This course will explore the Americas as a zone of connection and interaction between people of distinct environments, cultures and experiences. It surveys the historical continuities and transformations within the region and its linkages to increasingly globalized networks of culture, communication and commerce.
HIS372H5: The United States in the 20th Century
Major developments in the economic, social, political, and cultural life of the United States during the past century as it grew from a burgeoning industrial nation to the leading Superpower.
HIS374H5: Gender and Sexuality in the US, 1945-present
This class historicizes the intersectional analysis of gendered and sexed bodies after 1945. We explore topics such as normative gender expectations; reproductive freedom; masculinities; second-wave feminism; race, class and poverty; conservative backlash; media and gender/sexuality; LGBTQ social movements; trans histories. In terms of methods, I look forward to introducing students to experiments in digital history.
HIS378H5: East Asian Cities
An examination of the historical transformation of East Asian cities from the imperial to modern times. The course focuses especially on how cities have been planned, depicted, experienced.
HIS382H5: Nations, Borders and Citizenship in South Asia
This course examines the emergence of the connected histories of nation-states, space and border-making in modern South Asia. It is especially interested in engaging the changing political languages, practices and contested visions of citizenship that have animated and shaped languages of space, place and belonging in South Asia.
HIS384H5: International Relations in the Middle East - Regional Perspectives on the 20th Century
The discovery of oil, the establishment of the state of Israel and subsequent wars for Palestine, Pan-Arabism and Political Islam were the over-riding factors in the regional balance of power. This course examines international relations as they were shaped by state- and non-state actors in 20th Century Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Israel/Palestine, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon and Syria.
HIS385H5: Orientalism and Occidentalism
This course reflects on Edward W. Said's seminal Study Orientalism. The first part focuses on the debates around academic representations of the Orient before and after Said's intervention: his critics, alternative perspectives and methodological elaborations. The second part dissects the ways in which Orientalism inhabits political forms of belonging such as romantic nationalism or Islamic fundamentalism, as well as colonial constructions of liberalism, race, gender and sexuality. The third part examines the ramifications of Orientalist knowledge production in the media and in visual culture. The course also raises questions of strategic reversals of Orientalism, and to what extent Occidentalism can be considered the non-Western equivalent to Western constructions of Otherness.
HIS386H5: Gender and History in South Asia
This course seeks to understand the manifold ways in which gender has shaped South Asian history, with a particular emphasis on the period from the colonial era to contemporary times. The themes will include the relationship between gender, kinship, society and politics on the one hand and race, imperialism, nationalism, popular movements and religion on the other.
HIS387H5: Caste in South Asian History
This course studies the genealogies of caste, a system of social and cultural hierarchy in South Asia, drawing from Hinduism and other religions. It studies how caste shapes everyday lives of segregation and discrimination, work, political economy and labour regimes, and the anti-caste thought and movements in South Asia.
HIS388H5: Histories of Modern Hinduism, Power and Politics in South Asia
This course examines the historical relationship between Hinduism, power and politics in the colonial and postcolonial period. Themes include religion, colonial law and political economy, gurus and politics, anti-caste movements, sectarian violence, and Hindu nationalism. It emphasizes the centrality of religion in shaping political subjectivities, movements and public debates.
HIS389H5: Localities, Regions and Nations in South Asia
This course foregrounds and examines the role of localities and regions in forging social, cultural and political identities and cartographies in South Asian history before and after colonial rule. The course examines the shifting relationship between localities, regions and empires from 1200-1800, and thereafter in the era of colonialism, nationalism and post colonial nation-states. The course is especially interested in how social groups from the margins shaped, or alternatively contested political and spatial articulations of region, locality and nations.
HIS390H5: Revolutions and Nations in Latin America
Examines social revolutions in Guatemala, Bolivia, Cuba and Nicaragua. It emphasizes the historical linkages between these revolutions and national identity, and stresses the roles of gender, race and the United States in revolutionary processes. This course considers as well the counterrevolutionary politics of the 1970s and 1980s in Central America and the Southern cone.
HIS391H5: Mexico from Aztec to Zapatista
This course examines the origins and evolution of Mexican society, from its prehispanic empires to the Mexican Revolution (1910-1940). Drawing on primary sources, literature, films and secondary texts, the course will track a set of historical themes, including ethnic identity, Catholicism, economic development and migration.
HIS392H5: Topics in Global History
An examination of global historical issues. Content in any given year depends on the instructor. Visit the Departmental web site at History for further information.
HIS393H5: Slavery and the American South
An examination of the role of slavery in the development of the American South from the early colonial period through the Civil War. Among the topics to be dealt with are: the origins of slavery, the emergence of a plantation economy, the rise of a slaveholding elite, the structure of the slave community, and the origins of the war.
HIS395H5: Topics in History
An in-depth examination of historical issues. Content in any given year depends on the instructor. Visit the Departmental web site at History for further information.
HIS396H5: Modernity and Islam
The aim of this course is to engage students in the ongoing historiographical debates on modernity and Islam. Students will critically explore recent public discussions concerning "Islamic Fundamentalism," "Islamic Feminism," and "What Went Wrong" in the Islamic world.
HIS397H5: Iran's Islamic Revolution
This course explores the making of the Iranian Revolution of 1978-79 and the subsequent establishment of the Islamic Republic. Framed in a comparative perspective, it explains the cultural and political peculiarities that shaped the Islamist outcome of the Revolution. It examines the staging of the hostage crisis, the Iran-Iraq War, and the secularization of private lives.
HIS398H5: South Asia in Motion: Circulation, Mobility, Histories
This course examines how the movement of peoples, goods and ideas across land and sea has shaped South Asia’s history. In particular it analyses how far-reaching networks based on trade, pilgrimage, patronage, politics and labour that passed through the Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal, and the Himalayas connected South Asia to Southeast Asia, and East Asia, amongst other spaces. It also foregrounds how these histories of mobility changed under colonial rule and its aftermath. The course focuses on the period from 1200 until the present.
HIS399Y5: Research Opportunity Program
For senior undergraduate students who have developed some knowledge of a discipline and its research methods, this course offers an opportunity to work on the research project of a professor. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, develop their research skills and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Project descriptions for the following fall-winter session are posted on the ROP website in mid-February and students are invited to apply at that time. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
HIS401H5: Missionaries and Colonization in New France
The relationship between missionaries and colonization in New France was complicated and contested. This course will explore the links between missionary activities and colonial designs through late medieval and early modern European ideas of religion and expansion; early encounters between Indigenous peoples and Europeans; French attempts at settlement; cooperation and conflict between missionaries and the Crown; similarities and differences among different missionary groups; and Indigenous responses to missionary efforts.
HIS402H5: Topics in the History of French Canada
An in-depth examination of historical issues in French Canadian history. Content in any given year depends on the instructor. Visit the Departmental web site at History for further information.
HIS405H5: Microhistory
Microhistory focuses on a small part of the past to address big questions. By encouraging us to examine evidence up close, it provides a powerful way to investigate the rich texture of earlier societies and think about connections with our own time. This course considers classic microhistorical studies as well as more recent works, balancing theories with examples of the approach.
HIS407H5: Imperial Germany 1871-1918
This course will explore Germany's history beginning with its unification and trace the events that led to the First World War and the end of the Imperial era. We will examine the Imperial period through various different focal points including unification and the legacy of Bismarck and Kaiser Wilhelm II, the Sonderweg debate, gender, nationalism, German Jews and the birth of modern antisemitism, German's brief colonial era, the path to war and the revolution of 1918. By reading historical texts, articles, and novels, and by addressing numerous historiographical debates, we will attempt to understand Germany's foundational period in the context of this country's troubled history.
HIS409H5: The Life Cycle in Medieval and Early Modern Europe
This course examines the daily lives of medieval and early modern Europeans as they moved through birth, infancy, childhood, adolescence, marriage, adulthood, old age and death. Special attention is given to the ways in which gender, social status and local custom shaped thoughts and experiences throughout the life cycle.
HIS410H5: Doing Digital History
How have Web 2.0 technologies changed the practice of history? Students learn by doing in this course: researching and writing for the digital medium; learning about the theory and practice of digital history; experimenting with new technologies; and creating a digital history project.
HIS420H5: Topics in Medieval History
Critical evaluation of selected legal, literary and narrative sources. Thematic content will vary from year to year, but there will be an emphasis on social history. Visit the Departmental web site at History for further information.
HIS431H5: Global China
A critical examination of the making and remaking of China from the eighteenth century to the present. Emphasis will be given to historical literature on colonialism, nationalism, revolution, and global connections.
HIS435H5: The Viking Age
A seminar on the history of Europe from the eighth to the eleventh centuries with emphasis upon the Scandinavians and their relations with western European civilization. Readings will be in both primary and secondary sources.
HIS438H5: Remembering Atrocity: The Holocaust and Historical Memory in Europe and North America
This course will examine how Europe and North America confronts the Holocaust through the law, literature, left wing agitation, film, memorials and museums, and political debates. Among the focal points: the Nuremberg and postwar West German trials of Nazis, the fascination with Anne Frank, anti-fascist terror in 1970s Germany, The Berlin Memorial and the US Holocaust Museum, and films such as The Pianist and Schindler's List.
HIS448H5: Memory, History and South Asia's Contested Pasts
This course focuses on the relationship between memory and the "traditions" of historical writing and remembering in the sub continent from 1200 to the present. It also focuses on the role of politics in mediating the region's multiple, often contesting histories in our period of study.
HIS453H5: The Klondike Gold Rush
This course investigates the Klondike Gold Rush (Alaska-Yukon, 1896-1900) through the lenses of North American borderlands, environmental, and indigenous history. By viewing the gold rush in the context of growing national and imperial expansion, we will see it was an essential component of a much larger historical process centering on settlement, development, and dispossession.
HIS454H5: Race, Gender and Nation in Modern Latin America
This seminar examines the interconnected histories of race, gender and nation in Latin America. It studies the significance of race/racism and gender/patriarchy in the construction of national societies in Latin America during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Subtopics include: slavery and Indian servitude; acculturation and eugenics; immigration and urbanization; machismo and marianismo; and current Indian and women's movements.
HIS462H5: Indigenous North America
This reading and research-based course focuses on the history of Indigenous peoples in Canada and the United States, while also considering Mexico and the Caribbean. It explores a wide variety of methodologies and topics, examining Indigenous social structures, cultures, and economies alongside the influence of colonialism, capitalism, and nation states.
HIS463H5: Memory and Memorialization in South African History
This course examines the histories of South Africa through the lens of memory and memorialization. Major themes include gender and sexuality, race and nationalisms, youth and resistance, violence and trauma, the intersections and disconnections between different forms of memory (historical, collective, social) and their relationship to historical methodology and practice.
HIS464H5: Decolonizing Africa
This research-intensive seminar looks at alternative histories of decolonization in Africa, including revolutionary nationalisms, secessionist movements, and pan-Africanism– as well as ongoing debates over boundaries, citizenship, and sovereignty in postcolonial Africa.
HIS475H5: The French Revolution
A topical survey of the French Revolution dealing with the uprising in France and its repercussions elsewhere by examining such subjects as its causes, its effect on nations, classes and gender, and its relation to nationalism, socialism and democracy.
HIS479H5: Cold War America
An examination of significant political, economic, social and intellectual developments, including Cold War Foreign policies, economic and social reforms, McCarthyism, the Civil Rights movement, women's liberation, the "counter-culture,"and the Indochina Wars.
HIS480H5: Partition and its Aftermath in South Asia
This course examines the everyday effects of the partition of 1947, and its aftermath, when British India gained independence and was also crafted into new nation states. Amongst other issues, it engages with sexual violence, nation-making, territoriality, rehabilitation, citizenship, and spatiality. More broadly it connects these issues to space, place and historical memory.
HIS483H5: Colonialism in East Asia
This course examines the ideologies and practices of colonialisms, both internal and external, in modern East Asia.
HIS484H5: Religion and Public Culture in South Asian History
The course examines the role played by religion in shaping public culture and everyday practice in South Asian history. It studies key themes on the subject against a longue-duree perspective.
HIS487H5: Biography: Reading and Writing about the Individual in History
From biopics to memoirs, biography plays an important role in contemporary culture. This seminar asks why, taking up the age-old question about the relationship between the individual and society. The instructor teaches each step in the process of conducting historical research. Students read outstanding biographies, and write an original biography.
HIS489Y5: History Honours Thesis
Working closely with a faculty member, students choose a topic, develop a research question, conduct original and independent research using both primary and secondary sources, and write a thesis of approximately 60 pages.
HIS490H5: Religion and Society in Latin America
An interdisciplinary seminar that examines religion and its historical role in shaping culture, society, and politics in Latin America. It considers both the formal institutional practice of religion as well as informal and popular religiosities. A framing theme of the course is the complex relationship between Church and State - and more broadly, between religion and politics - in the region.
HIS493H5: Advanced Topics in Global History
An in-depth examination of historical issues. Content in any given year depends on the instructor. Visit the Departmental web site at History for further information.
HIS494H5: Advanced Topics in the History of the Americas
An in-depth examination of historical issues. Content in any given year depends on the instructor. Visit the Departmental web site at History for further information.
HIS495H5: Advanced Topics in European History
An in-depth examination of historical issues. Content in any given year depends on the instructor. Visit the Departmental web site at History for further information.
HIS497Y5: Independent Reading
Student-initiated project of reading and research, supervised by a member of the Department. Primarily intended for students in Specialist or Major programs. After obtaining a supervisor, a student must apply to the Department of Historical Studies. A maximum of 1.0 credit in a reading course is permitted.
HIS498Y5: Internship in History
Through a part-time, unpaid work placement, a limited number of advanced history students may enrol for field experience relating to expertise they have gained in the program. Placements are made at local libraries, historic sites and foundations, media outlets, public and private institutions. Five previous history courses and a cumulative GPA of 3.0 are required. For application to admission contact the Department of Historical Studies before June 1.
HIS499H5: Independent Reading
Student-initiated project of reading and research, supervised by a member of the Department. Primarily intended for students in History Specialist, Joint Specialist or Major programs. After obtaining a supervisor, a student must apply to the Department of Historical Studies. A maximum of 2 reading courses, amounting to 1.0 credit, is permitted.
HIS499Y5: Research Opportunity Program
For senior undergraduate students who have developed some knowledge of a discipline and its research methods, this course offers an opportunity to work on the research project of a professor. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, develop their research skills and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Project descriptions for the following fall-winter session are posted on the ROP website in mid-February and students are invited to apply at that time. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
HSC200H5: Imaging Technologies for Scientific Visual Communication
Introduction to image and media technologies central to modern digital communication, with emphasis on their use in science communication and education. Topics include the appropriate use of visual media, design strategies, design for legibility and scientific image conventions. Tutorial sessions will introduce vector and bitmap image creation and manipulation tools.
HSC300H5: Written Communication for Health Care
This course presents the principles of communicating effective audience-specific health information in both print and electronic media. Students will learn to analyze the form, content, language, and imagery of written health communication; to locate the published research behind health reports in the popular media; and to communicate clear, accurate health information to medical professionals, general audiences, and readers with low literacy skills.
HSC301H5: Data and Information Visualization
This course presents the principles of information design: the clear, concise and truthful presentation of data in static and interactive graphics. Visualization is used to explore data, reveal patterns, and to communicate to different audiences. Topics range from human visual perception and cognition, to the critical interpretation of design and accuracy in information graphics. Practical application of course material will require students to develop information graphics for peer review and critique.
HSC302H5: Biocommunication Visualization
This course covers analysis and development of visual media for medical or scientific topics. Lectures include: light/form; proportion/scale; scientific visual conventions; media appropriate for target audience and reproduction. Topics may include: physiology, anatomical/biological subjects, patient education or health promotion. Classes consist of lectures with computer lab explorations.
HSC307H5: Visual Presentation Design for Life Sciences
This course teaches students basic graphic and multimedia design theory, and skills required to create effective scientific posters and oral-visual presentations. Topics include the communication objectives of different presentation types; human visual perception and design; and theories of multimedia learning. Students will create media using evidence-based design principles.
HSC308H5: Visual Methods: From Atoms to Cells
This course examines the visualization process in molecular and cellular structural biology, how it has evolved, and its relationship to advances in technology and science. You will learn how to create molecular models suitable for visual exploration, analysis, and/or communication of spatial scales ranging from the atomic to cellular.
HSC401H5: Health and Science Communication Design
This course presents the principles of health and science communication and examines the characteristics of effective audience-specific media design. Included are issues of learning context, target audience analysis, and effective information design in the development of tools that communicate concepts to the general public. Students will analyze existing media, conduct an information needs assessment, and design an *interactive learning tool* on a current health or science-related topic.
HSC402H5: Digital Learning Environments in Biology and Health Science
This course focuses on the design, development and evaluation of digital learning environments for biology and health sciences education. An overview of learning management systems, knowledge object design, collaborative knowledge building environments, simulations, tutorials, and games will be presented. Emerging communications technologies will be discussed in theory, explored through examples, and applied through prototype design.
HSC403H5: Visualization of Forensic Demonstrative Evidence
This course examines the visual representation of forensic demonstrative evidence in Canadian courtrooms. A case-based approach simulates professional practice. Forensic anthropology, biology and visual communication theory are explored in new media for presentation. Visual problem solving skills are developed through collaboration. In class, presentations and practica are combined with critical analysis of visualizations.
HSC404H5: Visualizing the Past
This course examines the visual representation of physical evidence in paleontology and paleoanthropology. Photography, traditional illustration, and digital rendering are used to produce scientific graphics in support of published research. Through practical and analytical exercises students will gain an understanding of the media and techniques used to visually represent data.
HSC405H5: Digital Forensic Facial Approximation
This course examines the technical, anatomical, and sociological considerations involved in the three-dimensional digital forensic facial approximation. Human facial anatomy, traditional reconstruction techniques, and the use of 3D animation software are the core areas of study. Using this knowledge, students reconstruct the facial identity of an individual known only from cranial skeletal remains.
HSC406H5: Advanced Written Communication for Health Care
This course builds on skills developed in HSC300H. Topics include: communication of epidemiological data and of best evidence in medical and health science research. Students learn to think critically about health and science research, interpret complex or contentious evidence from the medical literature, and produce in-depth health information documents in a range of formats.
IMI201H5: Fundamentals of Marketing
An introduction to the fundamentals of market definition, consumer behaviour, and the principal marketing functions: product line development, pricing, distribution, promotion, salesforce management, advertising, research, and planning.
IMI202H5: Principles of Human Resource Management
Human Resource Management involves everything related to the employer-employee relationship and is about supporting and managing the organisation’s people and associated processes.
IMI203H5: Essentials of Accounting: Financial & Managerial
Financial accounting revolves around the preparation and understanding of financial statements, including income statements, and balance sheets which help management and other stakeholders understand the state of affairs within an organization. Managerial accounting provides management with information, analysis and reports that support management's decision making.
IMI299H5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a rewarding opportunity for students in their second year to work in the research project of a professor in return for IMI299H5 course credit. Based on the nature of the project, projects may satisfy the Social Sciences or Sciences distribution requirement. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
IMI301H5: Essentials of Finance
The two main fields of finance are investments and the financing of corporations. In the investments segment, students first learn how individual investors decide on their investments based on the time value of money and risk and return trade-offs. In the corporate finance segment students will build on the insights from the investments segment to understand the financing of firms within the context of capital markets.
IMI302H5: Managing Projects, Operations & Preparing a Business Plan
Every business needs to formulate the strategies by which it will compete successfully in the market place, and plan for the implementation of these strategies, which may include joint ventures, strategic alliances, etc. This requires operational capabilities, the preparation of business plans and project management skills.
IMI303H5: Technology Strategy
Businesses typically want to grow and compete. Science oriented businesses rely on innovation, protected by intellectual property rights and patents, to gain and sustain competitive advantage. Entrepreneurial science-based start-up ventures especially need a strong intellectual foundation, and they need to raise capital.
IMI399H5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a rewarding opportunity for students in their third or fourth year to undertake relatively advanced work in the research project of a professor in return for IMI399H5 course credit. Based on the nature of the project, projects may satisfy the Social Sciences or Sciences distribution requirement. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
IMI400H5: Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Students in this course will analyze business cases, read academic studies, and interact with guest lecturers to gain familiarity with the major challenges that entrepreneurs encounter in successfully bringing innovations to market. Topics to be addressed include market and industry analysis, managing value chains, competing and positioning in the marketplace, negotiating for and obtaining financial resources, defining a business model, writing a business plan, and growth and exit strategies. In addition to more "traditional" lectures, there will be a number of guest lectures, especially in the second half of the course, provided from practitioners in different areas of interest, including current entrepreneurs, technologists, early-stage investors, and IP lawyers.
IMI499H5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a rewarding opportunity for students in their fourth year to undertake relatively advanced work in the research project of a professor in return for IMI499H5 course credit. Based on the nature of the project, projects may satisfy the Social Sciences or Sciences distribution requirement. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
ISP010H5: Basics of Writing in English (BoWiE)
This non-credit ten week course is specifically designed to help students build skills that will assist in the completion of their written academic course work. Students in the course will learn to communicate their ideas in written form, applying skills in English mechanics and usage through in-course practice. Students who wish to improve their basic English writing skills, or who do not reach the threshold score on the competency assessment delivered in the first week of ISP100H5 Writing for University and Beyond, should take this course to develop their skills for university work and ensure successful completion of ISP100H5. No credit is awarded for this course, and it begins in week 3 of the academic term, following the competency assessment for ISP100H5.
ISP100H5: Writing for University and Beyond
This course teaches writing- and reading-related skills that are necessary for success in the transition to university work. The course uses a ‘Writing About Writing’ approach to help students understand the writing process, with an emphasis on the concepts of discourse communities, genre, rhetoric, argument, and audience. Rather than focusing on discipline-specific writing skills, the course helps students develop transferable writing skills. ISP100H5 is delivered from the perspective that all writers can improve their writing, so that students with diverse writing skills will benefit by taking it. There is a required writing assessment in the first week of classes, and students must pass the threshold mark to continue in the course. Those below the threshold should enrol in ISP010H5, Basics of Writing in English.
ISP130H5: Numeracy for University and Beyond
This course teaches quantitative literacy and numeracy skills in order to develop core competencies identified as essential for university and beyond. ISP130H5 enhances students’ ability and confidence to engage with quantitative information in a variety of contexts, by applying mathematical, statistical, and computational approaches to make informed decisions, to problem-solve, to effectively communicate and express quantitative information, and to create logical, evidence-based arguments. Rather than focusing on math specific skills, the course explores relevant concepts as they appear in diverse disciplines and authentic real-life situations, such as numbers and magnitude, patterns and relationships, financial literacy, health, probabilistic reasoning, chance and risk, and interpreting data presented in various forms.
ISP200H5: Writing and Researching across the University
This course builds on instruction offered in ISP100H5 in its focus on writing and researching processes. Students will expand their understanding of advanced theories and techniques of genre and discourse analysis, deepen their understanding of writing studies scholarship, and refine their own writing processes.
ISP210H5: Special Topics at the Intersection of Social Science and Humanities
This course covers a special topic at the intersection of the social science and humanities. Content relates to the instructor’s area of interest and varies in focus from year to year. This course may satisfy either the Social Sciences or Humanities distribution requirement, depending on the topic offered. The course may vary in terms of contact type (L, S, T, P) from year to year, but there will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
ISP211H5: Special Topics at the Intersection of Science and Humanities
This course covers a special topic at the intersection of the sciences and humanities. Content relates to the instructor’s area of interest and varies in focus from year to year. This course may satisfy either the Sciences or Humanities distribution requirement, depending on the topic offered. The course may vary in terms of contact type (L, S, T, P) from year to year, but there will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
ISP212H5: Special Topics at the Intersection of Science and Social Science
This course covers a special topic at the intersection of the sciences and social sciences. Content relates to the instructor’s area of interest and varies in focus from year to year. This course may satisfy either the Sciences or Social Sciences distribution requirement, depending on the topic offered. The course may vary in terms of contact type (L, S, T, P) from year to year, but there will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
ISP250H5: Special Topics in Writing Studies
This course covers a special topic in Writing Studies. Content relates to instructor's area of interest, thus the course varies in focus from year to year. This course may satisfy either the Humanities or Social Sciences distribution requirement, depending on the topic offered. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
ISP251H5: Special Topics in University Pedagogy
This course covers a special topic in University Pedagogy. Content relates to instructor's area of interest, thus the course varies in focus from year to year. This course may satisfy either the Humanities, Sciences, or Social Sciences distribution requirement, depending on the topic offered. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
ISP299H5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their second year to participate in the research project of a faculty member in return for 299H course credit. Based on the nature of the project, projects may satisfy the Humanities, Sciences or Social Sciences distribution requirement. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
ISP299Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their second year to participate in the research project of a faculty member in return for 299Y course credit. Based on the nature of the project, projects may satisfy the Humanities, Sciences or Social Sciences distribution requirement. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
ISP310H5: Special Topics at the Intersection of Social Science and Humanities
This course offers in-depth instruction on a special topic at the intersection of the social sciences and humanities. Content relates to the instructor’s area of interest and varies in focus from year to year, but it is designed to offer in-depth instruction in interdisciplinary research methods and writing practices. This course may satisfy either the Humanities or Social Sciences distribution requirement, depending on the topic offered. The course may vary in terms of contact type (L, S, T, P) from year to year, but there will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
ISP311H5: Special Topics at the Intersection of Science and Humanities
This course offers in-depth instruction on a special topic at the intersection of the sciences and humanities. Content relates to the instructor’s area of interest and varies in focus from year to year, but it is designed to offer in-depth instruction in interdisciplinary research methods and writing practices. This course may satisfy either the Sciences or Humanities distribution requirement, depending on the topic offered. The course may vary in terms of contact type (L, S, T, P) from year to year, but there will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
ISP312H5: Special Topics at the Intersection of Science and Social Science
This course offers in-depth instruction on a special topic at the intersection of the sciences and social sciences. Content relates to the instructor’s area of interest and varies in focus from year to year, but it is designed to offer in-depth instruction in interdisciplinary research methods and writing practices. This course may satisfy either the Sciences or Social Sciences distribution requirement, depending on the topic offered. The course may vary in terms of contact type (L, S, T, P) from year to year, but there will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
ISP350H5: Special Topics in Writing Studies
This course covers an in-depth special topic in Writing Studies. Content relates to instructor's area of interest, thus the course varies in focus from year to year. This course may satisfy either the Humanities or Social Sciences distribution requirement, depending on the topic offered. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
ISP351H5: Special Topics in University Pedagogy
This course covers a special topic in University Pedagogy. Content relates to instructor's area of interest, thus the course varies in focus from year to year. This course may satisfy either the Humanities, Sciences, or Social Sciences distribution requirement, depending on the topic offered. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
ISP399H5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their third year to participate in the research project of a faculty member in return for 399H course credit. Based on the nature of the project, projects may satisfy the Humanities, Sciences or Social Sciences distribution requirement. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
ISP399Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their third year to participate in the research project of a faculty member in return for 399Y course credit. Based on the nature of the project, projects may satisfy the Humanities, Sciences or Social Sciences distribution requirement. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
ISP410H5: Advanced Special Topics at the Intersection of Social Science and Humanities
This course offers advanced instruction on a special topic at the intersection of the social sciences and humanities. Content relates to the instructor’s area of interest and varies in focus from year to year, but it is designed to offer in-depth instruction in interdisciplinary research methods and writing practices. This course may satisfy either the Humanities or Social Sciences distribution requirement, depending on the topic offered. The course may vary in terms of contact type (L, S, T, P) from year to year, but there will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
ISP411H5: Advanced Special Topics at the Intersection of Science and Humanities
This course offers advanced instruction on a special topic at the intersection of the sciences and humanities. Content relates to the instructor's area of interest and varies in focus from year to year, but it is designed to offer in-depth instruction in interdisciplinary research methods and writing practices. This course may satisfy either the Sciences or Humanities distribution requirement, depending on the topic offered. The course may vary in terms of contact type (L, S, T, P) from year to year, but there will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
ISP412H5: Advanced Special Topics at the Intersection of Science and Social Science
This course offers advanced instruction on a special topic at the intersection of the sciences and social sciences. Content relates to the instructor’s area of interest and varies in focus from year to year, but it is designed to offer in-depth instruction in interdisciplinary research methods and writing practices. This course may satisfy either the Sciences or Social Sciences distribution requirement, depending on the topic offered. The course may vary in terms of contact type (L, S, T, P) from year to year, but there will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
ISP450H5: Advanced Special Topics in Writing Studies
This course covers an advanced special topic in Writing Studies. Content relates to instructor's area of interest, thus the course varies in focus from year to year. This course may satisfy either the Humanities or Social Sciences distribution requirement, depending on the topic offered. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
ISP451H5: Special Topics in University Pedagogy
This course covers a special topic in University Pedagogy. Content relates to instructor's area of interest, thus the course varies in focus from year to year. This course may satisfy either the Humanities, Sciences, or Social Sciences distribution requirement, depending on the topic offered. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
ISP490Y5: Independent Reading
This course is intended to offer students advanced supervised reading and research experience within the areas of writing studies, numeracy, and pedagogy. Based on the nature of the project, projects may satisfy the Humanities, Sciences or Social Sciences distribution requirement. Students interested in this course should obtain a supervisor before applying directly to the Institute for the Study of University Pedagogy.
ISP491H5: Independent Reading
This course is intended to offer students advanced supervised reading and research experience within the areas of writing studies, numeracy, and pedagogy. Based on the nature of the project, projects may satisfy the Humanities, Sciences or Social Sciences distribution requirement. Students interested in this course should obtain a supervisor before applying directly to the Institute for the Study of University Pedagogy.
ISP499H5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their fourth year to undertake relatively advanced work in the research project of a faculty member in return for 499H course credit. Based on the nature of the project, projects may satisfy the Humanities, Sciences or Social Sciences distribution requirement. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
ISP499Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their fourth year to undertake relatively advanced work in the research project of a faculty member in return for 499Y course credit. Based on the nature of the project, projects may satisfy the Humanities, Sciences or Social Sciences distribution requirement. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
ITA100Y5: Beginner Italian
An introduction to the language for those with no prior knowledge of Italian. Students learn and practice basic rules of grammar and theme-based vocabulary, and they engage with various aspects of Italian culture.
ITA102H5: Italian for Musicians
(Offered in Sulmona, Italy; Faculty of Music’s Centre for Opera Studies in Italy program) An introduction to the Italian language for students whose primary area of study is Music. Beginner language proficiency (grammar practice, oral communication, pronunciation, cultural fluency, etc.) are acquired through close readings of select librettos, depending on the pieces pre-selected for performance. In this course, students have the option of participating in co- and extra-curricular learning experiences. When those are offered, additional costs and application processes may apply.
ITA200Y5: Beginner - Intermediate Italian
A beginner to intermediate-level language course. The course provides a thorough review of grammatical structures designed to improve the students’ self-expressiveness in Italian. Selections from contemporary authors and passages dealing with present-day issues are also introduced as a basis for discussion in Italian.
ITA201Y5: Beginner - Intermediate Italian (Offered in Italy)
(Offered in Italy) A beginner to intermediate-level language course. The course provides a thorough review of grammatical structures designed to improve the students’ self-expressiveness in Italian. Selections from contemporary authors and passages dealing with present-day issues are also introduced as a basis for discussion in Italian. In this course students will be participating in an international learning experience that will have an additional cost and application process. Students have the option of participating in co- and extra-curricular learning experiences. When those are offered, additional costs and application processes may apply.
ITA221H5: Italian Authors (20th Century Italy)
(Offered in English) An introduction to 20th-century Italian literature. Writers studied include Italo Calvino, Dacia Maraini, Elsa Morante, and Alberto Moravia. Texts will be available in Italian and English.
ITA222H5: Italian Authors (Late 20th to 21st Century Italy)
(Taught bilingually: English and Italian) A study of late 20th- to 21st-century Italian literature. Writers studied include Niccolò Ammaniti, Andrea Camilleri, Elena Ferrante, and Margaret Mazzantini.
ITA227H5: Teaching and Learning a Second/Foreign Language
(Offered in English) This course provides an introduction to second language pedagogy with a particular focus on Italian. Students will learn key concepts in pedagogy and compare the teaching and learning processes and experiences of first and second language learners as well as the roles of classroom teachers and learners via the creation of linguistic portraits and pedagogical materials.
ITA231H5: Italian Authors (Medieval to Renaissance Italy)
(Offered in English) A survey of foundational authors, such as Dante, Petrarca, Boccaccio, Machiavelli, Tasso, Ariosto, Guicciardini, and their works, from the Medieval Period to the Renaissance. Texts will be available in Italian and English.
ITA232H5: Italian Authors (Baroque to Present Italy)
(Offered in English) A survey of foundation authors, such as Manzoni, Marino, Goldoni, Alfieri, Eco, Ginzburg, Levi, Ferrante, and their works, from the Baroque to present times. Texts will be available in Italian and English.
ITA233H5: Italian Culture through Fashion
(Offered in English) An exploration of Italian fashion throughout the centuries, its presence in Italian literature (e.g. Dante, Castiglione, Leopardi), politics (e.g. Medici dynasty, fascism), movies (e.g. Roman Holiday, La dolce vita), television, and the influence of the “Made in Italy” brand globally. In this course, students have the option of participating in co- and extra-curricular learning experiences. When those are offered, additional costs and application processes may apply.
ITA234H5: Italian Culture through Artistic Expression
(Offered in English) An exploration of Italian culture through the lens of creative expression, examining how Italy’s artistic heritage (e.g., music, art, architecture, industry, automotive design) reflect and shape the country’s cultural identity. By considering Italian operas and their stars, such as Andrea Bocelli, to Renaissance masterpieces, like The Last Supper, to contemporary designers, such as Giorgetto Giugiaro (FIAT, Ferrari), students will discover the rich traditions and modern innovations that define Italy’s cultural identity and continue to inspire creativity all throughout the world. Students have the option of participating in local field trips (to, e.g., performances, art installations, museums, etc.). When travel experiences are offered, additional costs and application processes may apply.
ITA235H5: Italian Culture through Food
(Offered in English) History through an examination of influential work in Italian literature (e.g. Artusi, Guerrini), art (e.g. Bellini, Caravaggio), and cinema (movements such as Neorealism, Comedy, Italian-Style). The course explores the relationship between the representation of food and questions of identity and diaspora and ponders a redefinition of authenticity. Students explore their own culinary patterns to discover links between history, food, culture, and identity. Students have the option of participating in local and international field trips (to restaurants, factories, farms). When travel experiences are offered, additional costs and application processes apply.
ITA237H5: Italy, from 1815 to 1960
(Offered in English) This course addresses key aspects of contemporary Italy by exploring the foundational events that shaped it, such as Unification, World War I, World War II, and the Economic Boom of the 1950s-60s. Investigative sources include short stories, novels, sociological and historical documents, and popular articles. In this course, students have the option of participating in co- and extra-curricular learning experiences. When those are offered, additional costs and application processes may apply.
Texts will be available in Italian and English.
ITA238H5: Italian Civilization (1960 to Present)
(Offered in English and Italian) An overview of key events in Italian civilization, from 1960 to present times, through a selection of various written materials and media. Topics include economy, the arts, media, and others. In this course, students have the option of participating in co- and extra-curricular learning experiences. When those are offered, additional costs and application processes may apply.
ITA242H5: Italian Award-Winners, Box-Office Hits
(Offered in English) A study of the most critically acclaimed and/or financially successful Italian films. Students also consider the differences and similarities in audience reception, depending on where (in Italy or abroad) films are released. Films analyzed include Bicycle Thieves, The Great Beauty, Life Is Beautiful, The Postman. In this course, students have the option of participating in co- and extra-curricular learning experiences. When those are offered, additional costs and application processes may apply.
ITA247H5: Contemporary Italian Cinema
(Offered in English) A study of Italian cinema and key themes that have emerged from the silver screen since the 1980s (e.g. family matters, celebrity culture, the crisis of cinema and the cinema of the crisis, identity and immigration, religion, crime, politics). Films analyzed include Il divo, Habemus Papam, Mediterranea, Nuovo cinema paradiso, Reality, The Son’s Room, Suburra, Videocracy.
ITA255H5: Italian-Canadian Studies: Historical and Socio-Linguistic Perspectives
(Offered in English) A portrait of Italian immigration through Diaspora Studies, history, and sociolinguistics. Students will also explore the journeys of their own communities. Texts will be available in Italian and English.
ITA256H5: Italian-Canadian Studies: Literature, Theatre, Cinema
(Offered in English) A portrait of Italian immigration through artistic expression in the works of, for example, De Cicco, De Michele, Patriarca, Ricci, and others, to highlight the voices that helped to establish/shape Italian-Canadian Studies. Students will have the opportunity to interact with writers, directors, and artists from the Italian-Canadian community.
ITA272H5: Italian Linguistics
(Offered in English) An introduction to Italian Linguistics through a study of modern Italian phonetics and phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics. Comparisons are also made between current trends in Italian linguistics and other languages with which students are familiar. Texts will be available in Italian and English.
ITA299Y5: Research Opportunity Program
An opportunity to conduct in-depth original research with a supervising professor. Students learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Students are invited to visit Research Opportunity Program for a list of participating faculty projects and for application details.
ITA307H5: Italian Novels on the Big Screen
(Offered in English) A study of various onscreen adaptations of modern Italian novels, short stories, and plays. Authors and film directors studied include Giorgio Bassani, Bernardo Bertolucci, Eduardo De Filippo, Vittorio De Sica, Alberto Moravia, Ettore Scola, Giovanni Verga, Luchino Visconti.
ITA309H5: Mafia Movies
(Offered in English) A study of organized crime and crime bosses and their representation onscreen, in American gangster films and in Italian movies about the mafia. Films analyzed include Donnie Brasco, The Godfather Trilogy, Gomorrah, Goodfellas, The Mafia Only Kills in Summer, Placido Rizzotto.
ITA311H5: Italian Cinema: Comedies and Comedians
(Offered in English) This course examines an integral part of Italian cinema - Commedia all'italiana (Comedy, Italian Style) of the 1950s, and the ways in which it continues to influence film comedies today. As the subgenre is deeply rooted in the external contexts that surround a film’s release, discussions will attempt to answer whether laughter can indeed be the best medicine. Films analyzed include Divorce Italian-Style, The Easy Life, Life Is Beautiful, Marriage Italian-Style, Quo vado?.
ITA313H5: Italian Cinema: The Effect of Spaghetti Westerns on the Films of Quentin Tarantino
(Offered in English) This course explores the influence that Spaghetti Westerns and, in particular, the works of Sergio Leone had on the Italian-American auteur, Quentin Tarantino. Works, from both Leone and Tarantino, are analyzed through a variety of lenses (cinematographic, cultural, theoretical). Films include A Fistful of Dollars, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, The Hateful Eight, Kill Bill, Once Upon a Time in America, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Pulp Fiction.
ITA315Y5: Italian Theatre (19th to 21st Century)
(Offered in English, performances in Italian) A study of 19th- to 21st-century Italian plays and playwrights, culminating in the staging of a play from one of those eras. Students may take on acting and/or stage production roles.
ITA339Y5: Exploring Italian Culture
(Offered in English) A study of key aspects of Italy’s past and present, contextualized within historical, political, and artistic frameworks. Topics of study include World Wars, Economic Booms and Crises, Organized Crime, and Gastronomy. In this course, students have the option of participating in co- and extra-curricular learning experiences. When those are offered, additional costs and application processes may apply. Please note that when this course is offered in Italy, the international learning experience will have an additional cost and application process.
ITA342H5: Italian Cinema: Neorealism
(Offered in English) A study of the Golden Age of Italian cinema, Neorealism, and its relation to the political and social climate of post-war Italy. Consideration is also given to how these films were received in the 1940s versus how they are screened and felt by today’s viewer. Films analyzed include Bicycle Thieves, The Children Are Watching Us, Rome Open City, Shoeshine.
ITA343H5: Italian Cinema: The Neorealist Effect
(Offered in English) An examination of the evolution and influence of Italian neorealism on films released in the 1950s and 1960s. Films analyzed include Miracle in Milan, La Strada, Two Women, Umberto D.
ITA350H5: Intermediate - Advanced Italian
(Offered in Italian) An intermediate to advanced-level language course. Students enrich their proficiency in Italian through practical experiences (e.g., interviewing guest speakers, writing articles for online media outlets).
ITA351H5: Creative Writing in Italian Studies
(Offered in Italian) A course designed to familiarize students with Italian literary traditions through practical applications which encourage them to explore creative reading, writing, and editing processes, and, ultimately, help students to discover and hone their talents. Students investigate different forms of creative writing by, engaging in studio seminars and workshops with invited guest speakers, such as locally- and internationally-based award-winning authors.
ITA352H5: Italian Media and Social Media Production
(Offered in Italian) An intermediate-advanced-level language course designed to enhance students’ Italian skills through media production (subtitles, dubbing, etc.), digital analyses of primary texts, and comparisons between human-generated and computer-generated translations. Students collaborate with industry leaders in film, publishing and editing, and reference collection.
ITA370H5: Machiavelli’s The Prince
(Offered in English) An in-depth analysis of Machiavelli’s The Prince, from historical, social, and political perspectives.
ITA371H5: Writings on Love and Sex; Politics, Power, and Success
(Taught bilingually in English and Italian) An exploration of literary representations of love and sex in Medieval and Renaissance Italy. Writers studied include Dante Alighieri, Francesco Petrarca, Giovanni Boccaccio. Other topics include politics, power, and success through the writings of Pietro Aretino, Michelangelo Buonarroti, Baldassare Castiglione, Lorenzo de’ Medici. Texts will be available in Italian and English.
ITA373H5: Italian Sociolinguistics
(Offered in Italian) A study of Italian dialects, regional variants, and the effect that immigration and emigration have had on the language as we read, hear, and speak it today.
ITA374H5: Language Teaching Methodology I
(Offered in Italian) A theoretical-practical approach to language teaching and learning. Based on relevant scholarship, students evaluate existing materials and create their own original exercises which they have the opportunity to implement in another Italian language course.
ITA375H5: Language Teaching Methodology II
(Offered in Italian) A theoretical-practical approach to language teaching and learning. Based on relevant scholarship, students evaluate existing materials and create their own original exercises which they have the opportunity to implement in another Italian language course.
ITA388H5: Education Internship in Italian Studies
(Taught bilingually: English and Italian) An internship opportunity (minimum 100-hours) for students interested in gaining experience in a branch of Education such as teaching, curriculum, administration, etc. Placements, determined in consultation with the student, may include elementary, secondary, or college/university classes, units, and departments. To request an internship placement, write to the program coordinator of Italian prior to course enrolment.
ITA390H5: Writings on Self, Gender, Society (19th Century Italy)
(Offered in Italian) An examination of the notions of self, gender and society amidst the emergence of new social consciences and technologies in the 19th century. Writers studied include Giacomo Leopardi, Alessandro Manzoni, Giovanni Verga, and the works of the first Italian woman recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Grazia Deledda.
ITA391H5: Writings on Anxiety and Identity in Italian Literature
(Offered in English) An analysis of the masterpieces of Italian fiction (in English translation), examined against the backdrop of modern-day Italy and centred on issues of national and individual identity. Writers studied include Sibilla Aleramo, Alberto Moravia, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Cesare Pavese, Umberto Saba, Italo Svevo, and Elio Vittorini. Texts will be available in Italian and English.
ITA392H5: Queer Italy: Literature and Cinema
(Offered in English) An exploration of expressions of gender diversity in Italian culture through time. Particular attention will be paid to issues of persecution, social struggle and activism, censorship, and marginalization of LGBTQ+ individuals and works. Texts will be available in Italian and English.
ITA395H5: Topics in Italian Studies
(Offered in English) Students will develop a deeper and more nuanced understanding of key theories and practices as they relate to the central topics investigated in the course. The course may have a historic, literary, cinematic, cultural, or other focus. Students should contact the Department for the topic when course is offered. Texts will be available in Italian and English.
ITA399Y5: Research Opportunity Program
An opportunity to conduct in-depth original research, with a supervising professor. Students learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Students are invited to visit Research Opportunity Program for a list of participating faculty projects and for application details.
ITA400Y5: Internship in Italian Studies (Private or Public Sector)
An internship opportunity for students interested in gaining work-place experience, in private or public sectors. Placements, determined in consultation with the student, may include corporations, local media, non-profit community organizations. To request an internship placement, write to the undergraduate coordinator of Italian prior to course enrolment.
ITA415Y5: Italian Theatre (15th to 18th Century Italy)
(Offered in English, performances in Italian) A study of 15th- to 18th-century Italian plays and playwrights, culminating in the staging of a play from one of those eras. Students may take on acting and/or stage-production roles.
ITA420H5: Dante's Inferno
(Offered in English). An in-depth study of the Inferno, in Dante’s Divine Comedy. Texts will be available in Italian and English.
ITA421H5: Dante’s Purgatory and Paradise
(Offered in English) An in-depth study of Purgatory and Paradise, in Dante’s Divine Comedy. Texts will be available in Italian and English.
ITA436Y5: The 18th Century in Italy
An investigation of the intellectual trends and literary forms in Italy from the pre-enlightenment to Romanticism. Readings from the works of Vico, Muratori, Gravina, Metastasio, Rolli, Parini, Verri, Beccaria, Goldoni, Alfieri and others.
ITA437H5: History of the Italian Language (Medieval Period to the 1700s)
(Offered in Italian) A study of the foundations of the Italian language. Topics/key figures in focus include the transition from Latin to Italian, Dante Alighieri, the “Questione della lingua,” during the Renaissance. Students will explore those and other topics through pertinent readings and linguistic analyses of representative texts.
ITA438H5: History of the Italian Language (19th Century to Present)
(Offered in Italian) A study of the Italian language, from the 19th century to the present, with a focus on contemporary varieties as spoken and written within and outside of national borders. Changes in the language will be analyzed through syntactic, lexical, and morphological perspectives as well as by looking at factors which affect those adjustments (contact with other languages, media, etc.).
ITA450H5: Advanced Italian
(Offered in Italian) An advanced-level language course. Emphasis is given to enhancing oral proficiency, including pronunciation, and acquiring and practicing nuances and subtleties of the language.
ITA491H5: Senior Project
A directed-research project, facilitated by a supervising faculty member in the Italian Studies program. Research may be in cinema, culture, linguistics, literature, or theatre.
ITA491Y5: Independent Studies in Italian
A project supervised by an Italian Studies faculty member on a topic in Italian language, literature or linguistics.
ITA492H5: Senior Project
A directed-research project, facilitated by a supervising faculty member in the Italian Studies program. Research may be in cinema, culture, linguistics, literature, or theatre.
ITA493H5: Senior Project: Teaching and Learning Language
A close, practical study in which students observe, actively participate in, and reflect on the teaching and learning processes in an Italian language course, under the supervision of a member of the Italian Studies program. Students develop and implement strategies for the successful delivery of lesson plans and grammatical and communicative activities.
ITA494H5: Senior Project: Teaching and Learning Cinema, Literature, or Theatre
A close, practical study in which students observe, actively participate in, and reflect on the teaching and learning processes in an Italian cinema, literature, or theatre course, under the supervision of a member of the Italian Studies program. Students develop and implement strategies for the successful delivery of lesson plans and discussion-based activities.
ITA498H5: Senior Project (Offered in Italy)
(Offered in Italian) A directed-research project for students registered in the UTM Italy Study Abroad Program. Projects are facilitated by a supervising faculty member in the Italian Studies program.
ITA499H5: Research Opportunity Program
An opportunity to conduct in-depth original research, with a supervising professor. Students learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Students are invited to visit Research Opportunity Program for a list of participating faculty projects and for application details.
JAL253H5: Language and Society
This course offers an introduction to the study of the relationship between language and society with the goal of understanding language use through social structures. Working within this socially-informed perspective, topics covered will include language, perception, and identity development; verbal and non-verbal communication; speaking across cultures; language use and social networks; and language and power. This course counts towards only the English Language Linguistics Minor (ERMIN1200); it does NOT count towards the Linguistic Studies Minor (ERMIN0506) nor the Linguistic Studies Major (ERMAJ1850).
JAL351H5: Language and Culture: Area study
This course offers an in-depth study of a particular region or language from a linguistic and anthropological perspective. In some cases this will involve focusing on a particular language or speech community (e.g., Vietnamese) including its historical development and the ways in which its boundaries have been defined. In other cases, it will involve a broader, regional approach (e.g., mainland Southeast Asia). Topics vary from year to year but may include semantic and grammatical structure, language variation and use, language pragmatics, poetry and poetics, literacy and orality, political discourse, historical linguistics and comparative reconstruction, language contact and shift.
JAL355H5: Language and Gender
Ways in which gender influences the use of language and behaviour in conversational interaction: ways in which language reflects cultural beliefs about gender.
JAL453H5: Language and Social Theory
This seminar course considers the intersection of linguistics and anthropology, bringing ideas from contemporary and classical social theory to bear on questions central to both fields of study. Topics vary from year to year but may include any of the following: linguistic relativity; register formation; language variation; linguistic ideologies; racialization; political discourse; pragmatic and semiotic theory; language reform.
JBC472H5: Seminars in Biotechnology
An introduction to current research in biochemistry and biotechnology, through seminars and literature reviews, presented by invited speakers and students. Subject areas include biotechnology, biomaterials, enzyme engineering, biosensors, drug delivery, spectrometry, separations chemistry, and bioinformatics.
JBH471H5: Worlds Colliding: The History and Ecology of Exploration, Contact, and Exchange
An examination of contact in world history through both an ecological and a historical lens. Precise topics will depend on the year, but the focus will be on the creation of global systems and ecological challenges that continue to shape our world. In some years, students may have the option of participating in an international learning experience during Reading Week that will have an additional cost and application process. Students interested in this course will need to be approved for enrollment by the department and course instructors.
JCB487Y5: Advanced Interdisciplinary Research Laboratory
Students will work together as members of a multidisciplinary team toward the completion of an interdisciplinary experimental or theoretical research project. Teams will be comprised of at least three students, with representation from at least three areas of specialization, namely, astronomy, biology, chemistry, earth sciences or physics. The interdisciplinary projects will be based on current trends in research and student teams will work to complete their projects with guidance provided by a team of faculty advisors from the Biology Department and the Department of Chemical and Physical Sciences. In addition to the rigorous development of research skills, the course will also provide students with training and practical experience in project management techniques and teamwork skills development. JCB487Y5 requires submitting an application to the department before the end of June for Fall enrolment. Application forms may be found at http://uoft.me/cpsforms. Application should be submitted to the CPS Undergraduate Assistant. Registration on ACORN is also required.
JCP221H5: Thermodynamics
An introduction to equilibrium thermodynamics with application to ideal and non-ideal systems: covering the concepts of work and heat, the laws of thermodynamics, internal energy, enthalpy and entropy, the chemical potential, states of matter, phase rules and phase diagrams, and chemical equilibria. Kinetics topics include rate laws, both differential and integrated, rate constants, activated complex theory, and temperature effects.
JCP265H5: Introduction to Scientific Computing
This course is an introduction to computing in the physical sciences. Students will gain experience utilizing numerical software tools used in both academic and industrial settings. A variety of numerical techniques will be covered, with topics to include: curve fitting, numerical approximations of derivatives and integrals, root finding, solutions of differential equations, Fourier series, Monte Carlo methods, and more. Students will also acquire skills in data analysis and visualization. No prior experience in computer programming is required.
JCP321H5: Quantum Mechanics I: Foundations
A first course covering basic concepts of quantum mechanics. Topics include: de Broglie waves and wave-particle duality, the postulates of quantum mechanics, the Schrödinger equation, Dirac notation, the square potential well and potential barriers, the harmonic oscillator, the rigid rotor, atoms, molecules and solids.
JCP322H5: Statistical Mechanics
Statistical mechanics provides a framework for understanding macroscopic properties of many-body systems (such as solids, liquids, or gases) from the underlying dynamics of the constituent particles. Topics to be introduced include microstates, entropy, partition functions, free energy and various ensemble formalisms. These tools will be used to calculate thermodynamic and equilibrium properties of both classical and quantum mechanical systems from the ideal gas, to ferromagnetism, to Bose-Einstein condensation.
JCP410H5: Modelling of Biochemical Systems
An introduction to mathematical modelling of complex biological systems, with a focus on biochemical kinetic models, their numerical simulation, and methods for analytically and computationally studying their behaviour. This is a one-term independent-study project course: students will be given a set of directed readings, then assisted in selecting an existing model from the literature. After reproducing existing results, students will be tasked with extending the model in a direction of their own choosing; this can include exploring different parameter regimes, incorporating new or different aspects of the underlying biology, or applying different analytical techniques. Students will work with the instructor to select a suitable project, matching their background and interests. Formal lectures will be replaced with a series of weekly meetings with the instructor to discuss progress and plans.
JCP422H5: NMR Spectroscopy
Fundamentals of NMR spectroscopy including classical and quantum descriptions, NMR parameters and relaxation times, product operators, multi-dimensional NMR, and solid-state techniques.
JCP463H5: Techniques in Structural Biology
Biochemical and biophysical approaches to studies of protein interactions, structures, and dynamics. Theory and practice of specific experimental approaches will provide a fundamental understanding on information potential and technique limitations. Specific applications from the current literature will be discussed. Student evaluations will include oral presentations describing studies using the techniques.
JEG400Y5: Geography / Environment Science Internship
Through a part-time, unpaid work placement, students apply the natural science based environmental science/physical geography expertise gained through previous course work. Placements are made at local conservation authorities, municipalities, environmental consulting companies, corporations, provincial or federal agencies, and other organizations. Students must submit an application online. Instructions for the application can be found on the Geography Department home page: https://utm.utoronto.ca/geography/field-internship-and-thesis-courses
JEG401Y5: Geography / Environment Social Science Internship
Through a part-time, unpaid work placement, students apply the knowledge and expertise gained through previous course work in geography. Placements may be made in a range of settings. For example, placements may include municipal government, regional government, neighbourhood organizations and centres, corporations as well as with non-governmental organizations. Admission for this course will be through an online application. Instructions for the application can be found on the Geography Department home page: https://utm.utoronto.ca/geography/field-internship-and-thesis-courses
JEG417Y5: Honours Thesis
This course is designed to give students experience in the design and execution of an independent senior thesis under the supervision of a faculty member. In order to register in the course, students must obtain approval from a supervisor, complete an application form and submit the form to the Department of Geography. Please refer to the Department of Geography website for details: https://utm.utoronto.ca/geography/field-internship-and-thesis-courses. This course may fulfill field day components. Please consult with your supervisor.
JFL369H5: Romance Linguistics
Have you ever wondered how a single "mother" language can give rise to many different "daughter" languages? How do closely related languages come to be so different? What unique mix of historical events, social relationships, and language acquisition processes produces each variety? This course takes the Romance language family as a case study in language change within a well-documented language family, examining the major linguistic changes that occurred within the last 2500 years from every-day spoken Latin to the Modern Romance languages. We also consider micro-variations among both well-known and understudied Romance varieties with the aim of finding explanations involving both internal and external forces of change. No prior knowledge of Latin or a Romance language is necessary. For students in either a French Specialist or Major Programs wishing to count this course toward program requirements, must complete written work in French.
JFL389H5: Second Language Assessment
This course provides an introduction to the principles and frameworks of second language assessment as well as to the practices of standardized testing and classroom assessment. We begin by discussing models of linguistic competence and frameworks for second language assessment as well as test design including language benchmarking. In the second part of the course, the focus turns to best practices in the assessment of vocabulary, grammar, comprehension, production, and socio-pragmatic competence. The language of instruction will be English. Students will have the option to write assignments in either English or French. Written work must be completed in French for credit towards a Specialist (French) or Major (French).
JFL454H5: Teaching and Learning Varieties of Canadian French
(Offered in English) This course offers students the opportunity to become familiar with the primary research methods used in sociolinguistic studies, with how sociolinguistics helps to understand the properties of Canadian French, and with the pedagogical implications arising from sociolinguistic research on Canadian French. This course will contain a research-based component. Written work to be completed in French for credit towards a Specialist (French) or Major (French).
JGE378H5: Natural Hazards
Earth is a dangerous place and risk is an inherent feature of life on this planet. Some of the events and processes that we call "hazardous," such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, tsunamis, cyclones, and forest fires are natural environmental processes. We define them as hazards only when they pose a threat to human interests. In this course we will examine natural hazards as well as some technological hazards, their causes, their potential impacts on people, and their management and mitigation.
JLP285H5: Language, Mind, & Brain
Language is often described as a quintessentially human trait. What is the mental machinery underlying this ability? In this course, you will explore questions such as: Do animals have language? How do children learn language? How do we understand and produce language in real time? How does bilingualism work? What can neuroscience tell us about language abilities? What is the relationship between language and thinking?
JLP315H5: Language Development
By three years of age, children have mastered many of the complexities of human language. How do they do this so rapidly, and with such ease? In this course, you will examine language acquisition from a cognitive perspective. Topics include the acquisition of speech sounds, sentence structure, and conversational abilities, as well as patterns of development in special populations. You will also learn about childhood bilingualism and social aspects of language development. Hands-on experience analyzing recordings of children will be provided.
JLP383H5: Language Processing: Words, Sentences, and Discourse
Language is a key element in our social interactions, our ability to share information, and aspects of human culture. In this course you will engage in an advanced exploration of the cognitive machinery underlying language in adulthood. Key themes include: incremental interpretation and predictive processing; the relationship between language comprehension and production; and the nature of processing in bilinguals and speakers of less-studied languages. Practical activities address experimental methodology and aspects of data analysis.
JLP384H5: Speech Communication
Imagine an animal species where one creature can generate thoughts in other creatures' minds simply by causing the air molecules around them to vibrate. Although this sounds exotic, it is what we as humans do every time we speak and listen. In this course, we explore the perception and production of spoken language from an interdisciplinary perspective. Sample topics include perceptual and cognitive aspects of speech communication, speech signal acoustics, audio-visual speech integration, speech sound articulation, artificial speech recognition, multilingualism, and contextual influences on speech communication. Through laboratory exercises, students will replicate classic experimental findings and gain hands-on experience with acoustic and behavioural data analysis
JLP388H5: Bilingualism and Multiple Language Acquisition
What are the linguistic and psychological implications of knowing more than one language? This course will explore topics such as the bilingual brain, the nature of bilingual language input, effects of age-of-acquisition and language similarity, the status of heritage languages, schooling in a second language (for example French Immersion programs), and research methodologies used in the study of bilingualism. Bilingual/multilingual corpora will be examined. The language of instruction will be English. Depending on the instructor, students may have the option to write assignments in either English or French. Written work must be completed in French for credit towards a Specialist (French) or Major (French).
JLP481H5: Topics in Developmental Psycholinguistics
How do children's language comprehension and production abilities differ from adults? What can research on language acquisition tell us about why language looks the way it does? Developmental psycholinguists use experimental techniques to explore a range of topics in the area of child language comprehension and production. Drawing on cutting-edge interdisciplinary research, we will explore contemporary issues and debates in this area.
JLP483H5: Topics in Adult Psycholinguistics
What is the connection between comprehending, producing, and thinking about language? How do the properties of different languages influence the nature of language processing? How is processing affected by differences across individuals? Drawing on a variety of perspective and methodologies, we will explore contemporary issues and debates in these and other topics.
JPE251H5: Introduction to Canadian Environmental Law and Policy I
This course serves as an introduction to environmental policy and law in Canada. The primary intent is to provide an overview of the political context in which environmental policy and law is made and implemented. The emphasis in this course will be on environmental policy. The course begins with an outline of the Canadian parliamentary system and policymaking process. A series of case studies, from biodiversity to climate change, are then explored as a way to see the policy process in action. [24L]
JPE252H5: Introduction to Canadian Environmental Law and Policy II
This course builds on the themes and concepts introduced in JPE251H5. The primary intent is to provide an overview of the political context in which environmental policy and law is made and implemented. The emphasis in this course will be on environmental law. [24L]
LAT101H5: Introductory Latin I
An introduction to Latin for students who have no knowledge of the language. This course also serves as a preparation for Intermediate Language courses.
LAT102H5: Introductory Latin II
A continuation of the introduction to Latin for students who have some training in the language, but have not completed a whole credit course at university or a final-year (Grade 12) course in secondary school. This course also serves as a preparation for Intermediate Language courses.
LAT213H5: Introductory Latin III
The final course of the introduction to Latin for students who have some training in the language. This course also serves as a preparation for Intermediate Latin courses.
LAT221H5: Intermediate Latin
Reading of selections of Latin prose and verse with a systematic study of the Latin Language.
LIN101H5: Introduction to General Linguistics: The Sounds of Language
Lectures on fundamental principles of phonetics, phonology, and morpho-phonology with illustrations from English and a broad spectrum of other languages. Practice in elementary analytic techniques and applications from acquisition, historical linguistics, psycholinguistics, and sociolinguistics. REQUIRED COURSE FOR ANY PROGRAM IN LINGUISTICS.
LIN102H5: Introduction to General Linguistics: Words, Sentences, their Structure and Meaning
Lectures on fundamental principles of morpho-syntax, syntax, and semantics with illustrations from English and a broad spectrum of other languages. Practice in elementary analytic techniques and applications from acquisition, historical linguistics, psycholinguistics, and sociolinguistics. REQUIRED COURSE FOR ANY PROGRAM IN LINGUISTICS.
LIN204H5: English Grammar I
Students will learn about fundamental grammatical concepts, focusing on the major grammatical categories in English and how they interact at the phrase level. They will be introduced to the main constituents of English sentences and learn about the basic relationship between tense, aspect, and modality. Students will learn to apply this knowledge as a tool to think analytically about English, evaluating various registers and styles, and gaining an awareness of their own style of speaking and writing. Depending on the instructor, this course may be delivered fully or partially online. This course counts towards only the English Language Linguistics Minor (ERMIN1200); it does NOT count towards the Linguistic Studies Minor (ERMIN0506) nor the Linguistic Studies Major (ERMAJ1850).
LIN205H5: English Grammar II
This course examines complex methods of sentence construction that will enable a critical analysis of English sentence structure, word and sentence meanings, and language function in communicative contexts. This course is particularly suitable for students who wish to improve their academic writing skills or who wish to teach English. This course counts towards only the English Language Linguistics Minor (ERMIN1200); it does NOT count towards the Linguistic Studies Minor (ERMIN0506) nor the Linguistic Studies Major (ERMAJ1850).
LIN208H5: English Sounds
A description of the phonetic and phonological systems of varieties of English, as well as discussion of topics including dialectal variation, socio-phonetics, historical developments, and/or prosody. This course counts towards only the English Language Linguistics Minor (ERMIN1200); it does NOT count towards the Linguistic Studies Minor (ERMIN0506) nor the Linguistic Studies Major (ERMAJ1850).
LIN228H5: Phonetics
Investigation of the sounds most commonly used in languages from an articulatory and acoustic point of view, with practice in transcription and analysis.
LIN229H5: Phonological Patterns in Language
This course explores the nature and organization of phonological systems (i.e. the sound structure of languages) with practical work in analysis.
LIN231H5: Morphological Patterns in Languages
This course explores the nature and organization of morphological systems (word formation rules, organization of paradigms, etc.) with practical work in analysis.
LIN232H5: Syntactic Patterns in Language
This course is an introduction to generative syntax focusing on the Government and Binding framework. Problem sets will be used for practicing argumentation and analytical skills.
LIN233H5: English Words through Space and Time
An analysis of English words, the history of their development and the variation in their use across the English-speaking world. Topics include the history and structure of words, the relation between sound and spelling, dialect variation and the development of dictionaries. This course does not count towards the Linguistic Studies minor or major program. Formerly LIN203H5.
LIN237H5: Semantics
This course offers an introduction to Semantics, the subfield of linguistics that considers the different ways meaning is encoded in human language and the context within which language is used. The aim of the course is to introduce students to some of the basic concepts and central issues and scholars in the field. The course examines possible ways of describing and formalizing meaning at the level of the word, phrase, and sentence. The course naturally incorporates students’ understanding of syntax and morphology thereby fostering a more holistic understanding of linguistic analysis. It also provides the foundation for more specialised studies in Semantics and Pragmatics. Topics include: sense and reference, compositionality, lexical relations, entailment, presupposition, event types, thematic roles, deixis, implicature, predicate logic, and quantification.
LIN240H5: Computer Programming for Linguists
We live in a world of language technology – who can imagine life without search engines, translation software and automated captioning? At the same time, more and more linguists use computational methods in their research. For example, this methodology can allow us to find all the ways the adverb actually is actually used, or to generate all monosyllabic six-character words for a psycholinguistic experiment. At the heart of this is computer programming: giving precise instructions for your computer to carry out – repeatedly and accurately. This course introduces the basic components of computer programming in Python for linguists.
LIN256H5: Sociolinguistics
An introduction to linguistic variation and its social implications, especially the quantitative study of phonological and grammatical features and their correlations with age, sex, ethnicity and other social variables.
LIN271Y5: Introduction to Sanskrit
This course introduces students to the basic grammar of classical Sanskrit. Students will engage with its phonology (including pronunciation, sandhi, and metrics) and morphology (including word formation, nominal declension and verbal conjugation, and dissolving compounds). Students will apply their grammatical knowledge and analytic skills to the reading of basic Sanskrit texts. By the end of the course, students will be able to read simple, narrative Sanskrit. This course is cross-listed with SAN291Y5 and can be used to count toward the Major Program’s Language Requirement.
LIN299H5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their second year to work in the research project of a professor in return for 299H course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
LIN299Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This courses provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their second year to work in the research project of a professor in return for 299Y course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
LIN310H5: Contrastive Linguistics
An introductory survey of the theory and practice of contrastive analysis. How are languages compared with respect to their phonological, morphological, syntactic and semantic structure? How are lexicons compared? Focusing on contrastive procedures, students will examine a number of case studies and will then apply this knowledge to produce their own analysis. Some consideration will be given to the usefulness of contrastive analysis to foreign language teaching.
LIN311H5: Linguistics and Poetics
Developments in linguistic theory sprouted diverse approaches to linguistic analysis of literature, from early formalism and structuralism to cognitive linguistics and functional linguistics. Survey of major trends and issues in linguistic poetics includes essential readings, such as works of R. Jakobson, M.A.K. Halliday, R. Barthes, and practice in linguistic analysis of literary texts.
LIN318H5: Talking Numbers: Interpretation and Presentation of Quantitative Linguistic Data
Do numbers and statistics make your vision go blurry? Do you avoid making eye contact with charts and tables? From measuring vowel formants to gradient grammaticality judgments to frequencies and patterns in natural language corpora, research in linguistics is becoming increasingly dependent on quantitative data and argumentation... but fear not! In this course, students with no prior background in statistics will learn the fundamentals of quantitative reasoning through hands-on experience with contemporary statistical tools and will be equipped with the basic numeracy skills necessary to critically evaluate quantitative arguments in a range of subfields of linguistics.
LIN325H5: Topics in the Phonetics and Phonology of English
This course examines current issues in phonetics and/or phonology specific to English. Depending on the instructor, the focus of the course may be oriented towards topics such as socio-phonetics; acquisition; dialectal variation; historical developments. This course counts towards only the English Language Linguistics Minor (ERMIN1200); it does NOT count towards the Linguistic Studies Minor (ERMIN0506) nor the Linguistic Studies Major (ERMAJ1850).
LIN328H5: Acoustic Phonetics
This course provides an overview of the fundamentals of acoustics, as well as the acoustic properties of vowels and consonants. Students will gain hands-on experience with primary acoustic data analysis through laboratory work, and will be exposed to classic and current research in the field. Additional topics that may be addressed include speech perception, second-language phonetics, and clinical applications.
LIN329H5: Phonological Theory
Basic issues in current phonological theory. Problems focusing on analysis and theory. (Students who want to pursue graduate studies in linguistics are strongly advised to include this course in their program.)
LIN332H5: Syntactic Theory
An introduction to the foundations and formal framework of current generative grammar, concentrating on Chomsky's Minimalist theory. (Students who want to pursue graduate studies in linguistics are strongly advised to include this course in their program.) Formerly LIN331H5.
LIN337H5: Lexical Semantics: What is (or is not) in a Word?
25,000 is a modest estimate of the number of verbs with distinct meanings in English, but there are more likely upwards of 75,000 verbs. The number of nouns is three to four times this number. But how do we know what they all mean and how to use them appropriately? What is the nature of this knowledge? The meaning of words has been central to the study of language since the Ancient Greek and Sanskrit grammarians and philosophers, and it remains central to contemporary approaches to natural language. In this course, students will investigate basic issues and concepts in the linguistic study of word meaning, with a special focus on the relation between the semantics of words and their syntactic behaviour. Depending on the instructor, topics discussed in the course may include componential analysis; Lexical Conceptual Semantics; Cognitive Semantics; lexicalization patterns and differences cross-linguistically; categorization; compositionality; child language acquisition; computational applications.
LIN338H5: Pragmatics
This course examines the sub-field of linguistics known as pragmatics, an area concerned not only with what is said but, more importantly, with what is meant. Depending on the instructor, topics in this course may include implicature, reference, presupposition, speech acts, information structure, inferential relations, and static versus dynamic approaches to meaning. The course objectives are to i) explore in depth the concepts necessary to understand the theory of pragmatics, ii) define key terms used by linguists carrying out research in this area, and iii) connect theoretical and methodological concepts to every-day experiences of language in use.
LIN340H5: Computing with Natural Language
How is a search engine able to answer so many of your questions? Why does your phone know which word you're about to type next in your message? Such technologies rely on computational linguistics, the intersection of Linguistics and the Computing Sciences. In this course, students with a background in either discipline will be introduced to this field. The course has a practical focus: how to get computers to analyze and process natural language? Through lectures and scaffolded programming assignments, students will be introduced to the tools and resources of Computational Linguistics (and their limitations). We will look at techniques used by computational linguists to process large amounts of text to answer practical and theoretical research questions. Topics may include part of speech tagging, parsing, machine translation, sentiment analysis, visualization, and corpus linguistics. While no programming skills are required at the outset, students should expect to develop them through the practicums of the course.
LIN341H5: Linguistics and Computation
How can you get a computer to tell grammatical and ungrammatical sentences apart? How does it know whether 'cricket' refers to the game or the insect in a sentence like "The cricket jumped over the fence"? This course is designed to introduce students with either a background in Linguistics or in the Computing Sciences to the intersection of linguistics and computing, with a focus on the question of how computational algorithms and data structures can be used as a formal model of language. Topics may include finite-state automata for phonology and morphology, context-free grammars, semantic parsing, vector space semantics, computational cognitive modelling, and computational sociolinguistics. No programming skills are required to take the course.
LIN352H5: English Language Linguistics in the Public Sphere
This course prepares students to engage with English language linguistics in public settings. Students will critically analyze what role the English language has in society, and learn how linguists can help answer the public’s questions about the English language. Topics may include: what common misconceptions the general public has about language; the disconnect between what linguistics is and what the public wants to know about language, and how to bridge between this gap; dismantling English-supremacist attittudes and linguistic prejudices around the world; designing research to assess public attitudes about language.
LIN353H5: Discourse Analysis
This course introduces students to the nature and uses of discourse analysis, notably the types of data on which it draws and its descriptive and critical goals. Topics addressed include discourse structures, participants in discourse, links across texts, the role of medium, and the importance of intention and interpretation.
LIN357H5: English Worldwide
The best estimate of linguists suggests that English is spoken (natively and non-natively) by around one billion people today. This makes it the most widely spoken language in the world. Within this language exists a high degree of global dialect diversity. In this course, we will examine the structure and history of Englishes around the world including British, North American, Antipodean, Caribbean, African, and Asian varieties. Students will also consider structural and sociolinguistic issues associated with English as a global language including creolization, post-creolization, the diffusion of innovation, language policy, and the linguistic effects of colonialism.
LIN360H5: Historical Linguistics
The grammars of living languages are constantly changing, never so obviously than when we compare different stages of a language over a long period of time: words change form and are sometimes repurposed; new words enter and others are lost; morphology rises and falls; syntactic possibilities can change dramatically. How do such changes arise, and what does it mean for a language to change? The aim of this course is to introduce students to the field of diachronic linguistics: its relationship to general linguistics, its primary research methods, and its major achievements. Students will gain practical experience solving classic language change problems, performing their own analyses, and reading contemporary literature in the field.
LIN366H5: Contact Languages: Pidgins, Creoles and Mixed Languages
This course examines languages recently created by means of contact between languages of different socio-economical status. Analysis of these new languages is of particular interest to linguistic theory since it offers insight on the construction of linguistic systems, language evolution and on how language is acquired in such a context. Emphasis is given to the description and analysis of French-based pidgins and Creoles spoken in the Caribbean and Indian Ocean region.
LIN370H5: Language Documentation in Context
Linguistics courses contain a lot of language data, but the data is sometimes disconnected from the people, communities, and cultures that use the language. In contrast, in this course, students actively engage with language in context. The course focuses on language documentation, introducing students to the source of linguistic datasets and to the ethics of language documentation. We will examine historical changes in how languages are documented, along with the contributions that community involvement has made to the field of linguistics. We will analyze the importance of contextual factors like culture, history, and geography in shaping languages, by exploring specific case studies of language-context connection. Finally, we will look in depth at language marginalization and the causes of language loss and endangerment. In doing so, we will learn about what it means for a language to be endangered, factors that contribute to language shift, and revitalization efforts that aim to reverse it.
LIN372H5: The Great Debates: Critical Reading and Writing in Linguistics
Students develop critical reading and writing skills through the analysis of influential articles that broach broad and controversial topics in linguistics. One goal of the course is to develop skill in understanding how a text “works”, to form a reasoned evaluation of it, and to appreciate its place in a larger debate. Another goal is to develop skill in communicating complex ideas through a variety of means relevant to the academic community.
LIN374H5: African Linguistics
This course explores the linguistic features and characteristics of African languages. Attention will be given to the phonetic, phonological, morphological, and syntactic components of the languages to be studied, with emphasis on examining under-represented and under-studied languages. No prior knowledge of an African language is necessary.
LIN375H5: Chinese Linguistics
This course offers a linguistic introduction to the features and characteristics of the Chinese languages. Attention will be given to the phonological, morphological and syntactic patterns of the language family, set against the backdrop of its linguistic and sociolinguistic history. The course not only examines the characteristics of Mandarin but also various other varieties of Chinese. No prior knowledge of a Chinese language is necessary.
LIN376H5: Linguistic Phenomena in the World’s Languages
Have you ever wondered why some languages have no word for the? What happens when a language has no tense? Why some languages have tone and others don’t? And what on earth does eh? mean, eh?
If so, this course is for you! In this course, we will consider linguistic phenomena that you might not find in your intro textbooks, but which are important typologically and commonly found across the world’s languages. And we will study them in-depth, in a scientifically informed way: building on your foundation in modern linguistics, you will be introduced to key concepts and theoretical tools that linguists use to analyze these phenomena. In short, the goal is to show you how your foundational theoretical toolbox can be extended to systematically understand a broader set of linguistic properties.
Topics will vary from year to year but may include: nouns and classifiers, verbs and event structure, tonogenesis, speech acts and speech act-level phenomena. Year to year, instructors may focus on phenomena common to a particular region of the world.
LIN380H5: Theoretical Issues in Second Language Teaching and Learning
This course examines theoretical research on adult second language learning and the resultant implications for second language teaching. Topics include learning styles and strategies, age, affect, communicative competence, and sociolinguistics. Links are drawn to teaching practices, including error correction, materials selection, and order and method of presentation.
LIN385H5: The Acquisition of Grammar in Different Contexts
This course examines language acquisition by different populations: first language acquisition by normal, deaf and impaired children; first language re-acquisition by aphasic patients; second language acquisition by children and adults. The question that we will ask is the following: what are the similarities and differences across acquisition contexts? Comparative theoretical approaches will be examined in order to gain an insight into the following topics: evidence for innate linguistic endowment, the stages in the development of grammar, the role of input. An important component will be the analysis of both spontaneous corpora and experimental work.
LIN387H5: Theoretical Issues in Teaching and Learning Second Language Vocabulary
This course provides an overview of second language vocabulary acquisition research and the resultant implications for second language teaching. Topics include dimensions of vocabulary knowledge, incidental and intentional vocabulary learning, textbook analysis, learning strategies, and teacher beliefs about vocabulary teaching and learning. Implications are drawn for pedagogical practices, including best vocabulary teaching practices, materials selection, and measuring vocabulary knowledge.
LIN399H5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides senior undergraduate students who have developed some knowledge of research methods used in the discipline of Linguistics to work in the research project of a U of T Mississauga professor for course credit. Enrolled students have the opportunity to become involved in original research, develop their research skills, and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Project descriptions for participating faculty members for the following summer and fall/winter sessions are posted on the ROP website in mid-February; students are invited to apply at that time. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
LIN399Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides senior undergraduate students who have developed some knowledge of research methods used in the discipline of Linguistics to work in the research project of a U of T Mississauga professor for course credit. Enrolled students have the opportunity to become involved in original research, develop their research skills, and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Project descriptions for participating faculty members for the following summer and fall/winter sessions are posted on the ROP website in mid-February; students are invited to apply at that time. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
LIN411H5: Introduction to Analysis and Argumentation in Linguistics
This course examines topics which have created controversy in linguistics, topics about which scholars have expressed opposing views through published articles. By reading and discussing these debates, students will galvanize their knowledge base in linguistics and develop skills in identifying the authors' assumptions, assessing their argumentation and recognizing how linguists build arguments to present an opposing view. The topics may range from big picture questions like the validity of Universal Grammar to more specific questions about a linguistic phenomenon. By the end of the course, students will have developed more acute reading skills, thereby also improving their academic writing skills. The title of the course might sound scary, but the course itself is not at all!
LIN418H5: Research Methods in Linguistics
Introduction to the main methods, tools and techniques used in the analysis, interpretation and presentation of linguistic data. Topics may include research in the areas of general linguistics, language acquisition, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics and dialectology. This course involves a practical component where students will apply skills learned in order to carry out their own study. Note that a background in statistics is NOT required for this course.
LIN419H5: Field Methods: A Language Unlocked
This course provides experience in language analysis based on elicited data from a native speaker of an understudied language. It emphasizes procedures and techniques and provides an opportunity for first-hand appreciation of linguistic unity and diversity.
LIN421H5: Speaking and Hearing with an Accent
Much of linguistic theory assumes the existence of an “ideal speaker/hearer” of a given language. However, in the real world, particularly in linguistically diverse communities such as the GTA, there is an enormous amount of variability driven by differences in language background, regional affiliation, and social factors. This course examines the many factors contributing to accentedness, and how listeners adapt their perception when confronted with different accents. It also explores how models of language development, processing, and production account for accent-related variability.
LIN441H5: Computing Meaning
How can we get a computer system to carry out meaningful tasks, such as determining if a restaurant review is positive ? How can computational experiments help linguists understand meaning and its use better ? This course will introduce students to computational linguistic concepts and techniques pertaining to meaning, such as vector space semantics and sentiment analysis. The course combines a theoretical perspective on meaning and computation with hands-on lab work.
LIN447H5: Topics in Computational Linguistics
In this course, students will develop a computational understanding of text and language. This course is cross-disciplinary, tools and project based; it teams Linguistics and Computer Science students in projects exploring novel applications of Natural Language Processing. Example topics include text summarization, bias detection, and sentiment analysis using Python and text processing and machine learning libraries. Topics and applications will vary by instructor.
LIN452H5: Communicating English Language Linguistics
This course teaches students advanced skills for engaging with English language linguistics in public settings. Topics may include: how to talk to a general audience about linguistics; navigating common public myths about language; presentation skills to make complex topics accessible; incorporating linguistics in language courses; public outreach and interview skills in linguistics; designing research to answer public questions about English. In this capstone course, students will output innovative projects for educating the public about English language linguistics. This course includes an experiential learning component where students will get hands-on experience talking to various audiences about linguistics.
LIN456H5: Sociolinguistics and Second Language Teaching and Learning
This course considers the impact on variant use by second language learners exerted by linguistic and extra-linguistic factors, such as the surrounding linguistic context, age, sex, style, and curricular and extra-curricular exposure. Implications are drawn for second language teaching, including deciding what registers and variants to teach and what activities to employ.
LIN458H5: Analyzing Sociolinguistic Variation
All languages, in all linguistic domains, exhibit variation - more than one way of saying the same thing. This variation is not random but dependent on various linguistic, social, and cognitive conditioning factors. This course explores the theory and practice of analyzing such sociolinguistic variation. Students will receive hands-on instruction in fieldwork methods for collecting natural speech data and quantitative methods for analyzing patterns in that data.
LIN460H5: Special Topics in Language Change
This course examines current issues of theoretical and/or empirical relevance in linguistics with special reference to phenomena involving language change. Depending on the instructor, the focus of the course may be more oriented towards phonology, morpho-syntax, semantics, or the lexicon. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L, S, T, P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
LIN466H5: Topics in Creole Linguistics
An advanced seminar on current issues of theoretical relevance in linguistics with special reference to Creole languages, in particular their emergence and their linguistic properties compared to those of the contributing languages. Depending on the instructor, the course may emphasize on French-based, English-based or Portuguese-based Creoles.
LIN469H5: Topics in Romance Linguistics
We examine current issues of theoretical and/or empirical relevance in linguistics with special reference to the Romance family, including both well-known and understudied varieties. In this course, student can engage deeply with specific properties of the Romance family from the point of view of micro-comparative analysis, sociolinguistic variation, and/or diachronic change depending on student interests and the expertise of the instructor. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L, S, T, P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
LIN475H5: Topics in Chinese Linguistics
An advanced seminar that explores topics and issues concerning the Chinese languages. Depending on the instructor, focus of the course may be oriented toward structural properties, language and society, bilingualism, the languages of China, or historical issues.
LIN476H5: Language Diversity and Language Universals
This course examines cross-linguistic typological features found in the languages of the world. Special attention is given to investigating the remarkable range of phonological, morphological and syntactic diversity found in the world’s languages. One of the primary goals of the course is to examine the notion of language universals in light of such diversity.
LIN479H5: The Structure of a Specific Language
An introduction to the structure of a featured language other than English. Topics of analysis may include the phonological, morphological, syntactic, or semantic systems; the writing system; historical aspects; variation. Students will use the tools of linguistic analysis learned in prior courses to examine the structural properties of this language. No prior knowledge of the language is necessary.
LIN486H5: Teaching and Learning Cross-cultural Communication
This course examines cross-cultural language use by second language learners from both a theoretical and pedagogical perspective. Topics addressed include the role of pragmatic transfer between native and target languages, individual differences, learning context, and instruction in the development of second language pragmatic competence.
LIN487H5: Second Language Pedagogy
This course offers a comprehensive survey and analysis of fundamental concepts and issues related to second, bilingual, and foreign language instruction by developing students' knowledge of second language acquisition, approaches to language teaching, computer-assisted teaching, and pedagogical design and implementation in the language classroom.
LIN495Y5: Individual Project
A research or reading project undertaken by the student under the supervision of a staff member. Open only when a faculty member is willing and available to supervise.
LIN496H5: Individual Project
A research or reading project undertaken by the student under the supervision of a staff member.
LIN498H5: Individual Project
A research or reading project undertaken by the student under the supervision of a staff member.
LTL100H5: Introduction to Language Studies for Language Teaching, Learning, & Assessment Specialists
This course provides students with foundational knowledge and skills for the study of second language teaching, learning, and assessment. Students will learn to describe language structure and use including among learners, identify major phenomena of non-native language learning, and discuss principles and best practices in second language teaching and assessment.
LTL227H5: Teaching and Learning a Second/Foreign Language
This course provides an introduction to second language pedagogy. Students will learn key concepts in pedagogy and compare the teaching and learning processes and experiences of first and second language learners as well as the roles of classroom teachers and learners via the creation of linguistic portraits and pedagogical materials.
LTL380H5: Theoretical Issues In Second Language Teaching and Learning
This course examines theoretical research on adult second language learning and the resultant implications for second language teaching. Topics include age, affect, communicative competence, and sociolinguistics. Links are drawn to pedagogical practices, including error correction, materials selection, and order and method of presentation. This course is taught in English and is open to students from other disciplines. Written work to be completed in French/Italian for credit towards a Specialist (French or Italian) or Major (French/Italian).
LTL381H5: Methodologies for Teaching English as a Second Language
This course provides an overview of classroom teaching methods, techniques and strategies for English as a second language, as well as ways of creating and adapting materials to particular teaching contexts such as English-as-a-second-language (ESL) in Canada, English for Academic Purposes (EAP), English for Specific Purposes (ESP), English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) abroad, and blended teaching. Theoretical issues and classroom implications for teaching and learning with technology will be discussed. Classroom management techniques will also be examined, along with ways to access and work with classroom management and technology-related resources.
LTL382H5: Teaching Second Language Speaking and Listening
This course examines theories and practices related to the teaching and learning of speaking and listening in a second language, particularly with reference to English. The course will focus on the theoretical and research-based underpinnings of second language speaking and listening on the ways in which instruction can facilitate the development of these skills. The relationship of pronunciation to listening and listening skills will be explored, and an overview of teaching pronunciation to second language learners will be provided (particularly with reference to English).
LTL383H5: Teaching Second Language Reading and Writing
This course examines theories and practices related to the teaching and learning of reading and writing in a second language, particularly with reference to English. The course will focus on the theoretical and research-based underpinnings of second language reading and writing and on the ways in which instruction can facilitate the development of these skills. The relationship of vocabulary to second language reading and writing will be examined (particularly with reference to English).
LTL387H5: Theoretical Issues in Teaching and Learning Second Language Vocabulary
This course provides an overview of second language vocabulary acquisition research and the resultant implications for second language teaching. Topics include dimensions of vocabulary knowledge, incidental and intentional vocabulary learning, textbook analysis, learning strategies, and teacher beliefs about vocabulary teaching and learning. Implications are drawn for pedagogical practices, including best vocabulary teaching practices, materials selection, and measuring vocabulary knowledge. This course is taught in English and is open to students from other disciplines. Written work to be completed in French/Italian for credit towards a Specialist (French or French & Italian) or Major (French/Italian).
LTL399H5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides senior undergraduate students who have developed some knowledge of research methods used in the discipline of Language Teaching and Learning to work in the research project of a U of T Mississauga professor for course credit. Enrolled students have the opportunity to become involved in original research, develop their research skills, and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Project descriptions for participating faculty members for the following summer, fall, or winter sessions are posted on the ROP website in mid-February and students are invited to apply at that time. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details
LTL456H5: Sociolinguistics and Second Language Teaching and Learning
This course considers the impact on variant use by second language learners exerted by linguistic and extra-linguistic factors, such as the surrounding linguistic context, age, sex, style, and curricular and extra-curricular exposure. Implications are drawn for second language teaching, including deciding what registers and variants to teach and what activities to employ. Written work to be completed in French/Italian for credit towards a Specialist (French or Italian) or Major (French/Italian).
LTL486H5: Teaching and Learning Cross-Cultural Communication
This course examines cross-cultural language use by second language learners from both a theoretical and pedagogical perspective. Topics addressed include the role of pragmatic transfer between native and target languages, individual differences, learning context, and instruction in the development of second language pragmatic competence. Written work to be completed in French/Italian for credit towards a Specialist (French or Italian) or Major (French/Italian).
LTL487H5: Second Language Pedagogy
This course offers a comprehensive survey and analysis of fundamental concepts and issues related to second, bilingual, and foreign language instruction by developing students' knowledge of second language acquisition, approaches to language teaching, computer-assisted teaching, and pedagogical design and implementation in the language classroom. Written work to be completed in French/Italian for credit towards a Specialist (French/Italian) or Major (French/Italian).
LTL488H5: Principles and Strategies for Online Second Language Course Design
This course will conduct a critical appraisal of online course materials, and formulate appropriate pedagogical strategies for their exploitation. This course is taught in English and is open to students from other disciplines. Written work to be completed in French/Italian for credit towards a Specialist (French/Italian) or Major (French/Italian).
LTL495Y5: Individual Project
A research or reading project undertaken by the student under the supervision of a faculty member. Written work to be completed in French/Italian for credit towards an LTL program in French or Italian.
LTL496H5: Individual Project
A research or reading project undertaken by the student under the supervision of a faculty member. Written work to be completed in French/Italian for credit towards an LTL program in French or Italian.
MAT102H5: Introduction to Mathematical Proofs
Understanding, using and developing precise expressions of mathematical ideas, including definitions and theorems. Set theory, logical statements and proofs, induction, topics chosen from combinatorics, elementary number theory, Euclidean geometry.
MAT132H5: Differential Calculus for Life Sciences
Review of functions and their graphs, trigonometry, exponentials and logarithms. Limits and continuity of functions of a single variable. Derivatives and differentiation techniques. Applications of differentiation, including extreme values, related rates and optimization. Life science applications are emphasized.
MAT133Y5: Calculus and Linear Algebra for Commerce
Mathematics of finance, matrices and linear equations. Review of differential calculus; applications. Integration and fundamental theorem; applications. Introduction to partial differentiation; applications. NOTE: This course cannot be used as the calculus prerequisite for any 200-level MAT or STA course, except in combination with MAT233H5.
MAT134H5: Integral Calculus for Life Sciences
Continuation of MAT132H5. Antiderivatives and indefinite integrals in one variable, definite integrals and the fundamental theorem of calculus. Integration techniques and applications of integration. Infinite sequences, series and convergence tests. Power series, Taylor and Maclaurin series. Life science applications are emphasized.
MAT135H5: Differential Calculus
Review of functions and their graphs, trigonometry, exponentials and logarithms. Limits and continuity of functions of a single variable. Derivatives and differentiation techniques. Applications of differentiation, including extreme values, related rates and optimization. A wide range of applications from the sciences will be discussed.
MAT136H5: Integral Calculus
Continuation of MAT135H5. Antiderivatives and indefinite integrals in one variable, definite integrals and the fundamental theorem of calculus. Integration techniques and applications of integration. Infinite sequences, series and convergence tests. Power series, Taylor and Maclaurin series. A wide range of applications from the sciences will be discussed.
MAT137H5: Differential Calculus for Mathematical Sciences
A conceptual approach to calculus. A focus on theoretical foundations and proofs as well as some emphasis on geometric and physical intuition. Limits and continuity, differentiation, the mean value, extreme value and inverse function theorems. Applications typically include related rates and optimization.
MAT139H5: Integral Calculus for Mathematical Sciences
MAT157H5: Analysis I
A rigorous and proof-intensive introduction to the analysis of single variable real-valued functions for students with a serious interest in mathematics. Topics typically include the construction of the real numbers, the epsilon-delta definition of the limit, continuity, and differentiation.
MAT159H5: Analysis II
MAT202H5: Introduction to Discrete Mathematics
Mathematics derives its great power from its ability to formulate abstract concepts and techniques. In this course, students will be introduced to abstraction and its power through a study of topics from discrete mathematics. The topics covered will include: Sets, relations and functions; Basic counting techniques: subsets, permutations, finite sequences, inclusion-exclusion; Discrete probability: random variables paradoxes and surprises; Basic number theory: properties of the integers and the primes. The course will emphasize active participation of the students in discussion and written assignments.
MAT223H5: Linear Algebra I
Systems of linear equations, matrix algebra, determinants. Vector geometry in R2 and R3. Complex numbers. Rn: subspaces, linear independence, bases, dimension, column spaces, null spaces, rank and dimension formula. Orthogonality, orthonormal sets, Gram-Schmidt orthogonalization process, least square approximation. Linear transformations from Rn to Rm. The determinant, classical adjoint, Cramer's rule. Eigenvalues, eigenvectors, eigenspaces, diagonalization. Function spaces and applications to a system of linear differential equations. The real and complex number fields.
MAT224H5: Linear Algebra II
Abstract vector spaces: subspaces, dimension theory. Linear mappings: kernel, image, dimension theorem, isomorphisms, matrix of a linear transformation. Change of basis, invariant subspaces, direct sums, cyclic subspaces, Cayley-Hamilton theorem. Inner product spaces, orthogonal transformations, orthogonal diagonalization, quadratic forms, positive definite matrices. Complex operators: Hermitian, unitary and normal. Spectral Theorem. Isometries of R2 and R3.
MAT232H5: Calculus of Several Variables
Differential and integral calculus of several variables: partial differentiation, chain rule, extremal problems, Lagrange multipliers, classification of critical points. Multiple integrals, Green's theorem and related topics.
MAT233H5: Calculus of Several Variables
"Bridging Course"; accepted as prerequisite for upper level courses in replacement of MAT232H5. Limited Enrolment. Sequences and series, power series, Taylor series, trigonometric and inverse trigonometric functions and their use in integrations. Differential and integral calculus of several variables; partial differentiation, chain rule, extremal problems, Lagrange multipliers, classification of critical points. Multiple integrals, Green's theorem and related topics.
MAT236H5: Vector Calculus
The implicit function theorem, vector fields. Transformations. Parametrized integrals. Line, surface and volume integrals. Theorems of Gauss and Stokes with applications.
MAT240H5: Algebra I
A theoretical approach to Linear Algebra and its foundations, aimed at students with a serious interest in Mathematics. Topics to be covered: Vector spaces over arbitrary fields (including C and finite fields), linear equations and matrices, bases and linear independence, linear transformations, determinants, eigenvalues and eigenvectors, similarity, change of basis, diagonalization, the characteristic and minimal polynomials, the Cayley-Hamilton theorem.
MAT244H5: Differential Equations I
Ordinary differential equations of the first and second order, existence and uniqueness; solutions by series and integrals; linear systems of first order; linearization of non-linear systems. Applications in life and physical sciences. Power series solutions, boundary value problems, Fourier series solutions, numerical methods.
MAT247H5: Algebra II
Continuation of MAT240H5. A theoretical approach to real and complex inner product spaces, isometries, orthogonal and unitary matrices and transformations. The adjoint. Hermitian and symmetric transformations. Spectral theorem for symmetric and normal transformations. Polar representation theorem. Primary decomposition theorem. Rational and Jordan canonical forms. Additional topics including dual spaces, quotient spaces, bilinear forms, quadratic surfaces, multilinear algebra.
MAT257Y5: Analysis III
A rigorous and proof-intensive course in multivariable calculus for students with a serious interest in mathematics. Topology of metric spaces; compactness, functions and continuity, the extreme value theorem. Derivatives; inverse and implicit function theorems, maxima and minima. Integration; Fubini's theorem, partitions of unity, change of variables. Integration on manifolds; Stokes' theorem.
MAT264H5: Introduction to Numerical Analysis
Most applications of Mathematics involve the use of a computer. Numerical analysis studies how formulas can be transformed into computations. The topics covered may include: numerical methods in Calculus, such as series expansions and rates of convergence, numerical integration and differentiation, finite interpolation methods, splines; and numerical methods for ordinary differential equations, such as root-finding methods, Fourier series and Fourier transform, least-squares approximation, regression, and principal component analysis.
MAT299H5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their second year to work in the research project of a professor in return for 299H course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Research Opportunity Program (ROP) for more details.
MAT299Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This courses provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their second year to work in the research project of a professor in return for 299Y course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
MAT301H5: Groups and Symmetries
Permutations and permutation groups. Linear groups. Abstract groups, homomorphisms, subgroups. Symmetry groups of regular polygons and platonic solids, wallpaper groups. Group actions, class formula. Cosets, Lagrange's theorem. Normal subgroups, quotient groups. Classification of finitely generated Abelian Groups. Emphasis on examples and calculations.
MAT302H5: Introduction to Algebraic Cryptography
(Cross list with CSC322H5) The course will take students on a journey through the methods of algebra and number theory in cryptography, from Euclid to Zero Knowledge Proofs. Topics include: block ciphers and the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES); algebraic and number-theoretic techniques and algorithms in cryptography, including methods for primality testing and factoring large numbers; encryption and digital signature systems based on RSA, factoring, elliptic curves and integer lattices; and zero-knowledge proofs.
MAT305H5: Elementary Lie Theory
This course is an introduction to the theory of matrix groups with a particular emphasis on applications and examples. This course will cover orthogonal transformations in two and three dimensions, quaternions, isometries of Euclidean space, Lie algebras and matrix exponentials.
MAT307H5: Curves and Surfaces
This course is an introduction to the theory of curves and surfaces with a particular emphasis on applications and computational techniques. This course will cover curves in R2 and R3, curvature, torsion, differential of maps, First Fundamental Form, Parallel transport, Bishop Frames, Geodesics, Gauss-Bonnet Theorem, and Gaussian curvature.
MAT309H5: Introduction to Mathematical Logic
The relationships among axioms, proofs, consistency and truth in mathematics. Soundness and Completeness. Introductions to model theory, set theory, and computability; arithmetic as a central example. Gödel's incompleteness theorems; outlines of their proofs. This course emphasizes rigour.
MAT311H5: Partial Differential Equations
Partial differential equations of applied mathematics, mathematical models of physical phenomena, basic methodology.
MAT315H5: Introduction to Number Theory
Elementary topics in number theory such as: prime numbers; arithmetic with residues; Gaussian integers, quadratic reciprocity law, representation of numbers as sums of squares. (This course emphasizes rigour).
MAT322H5: Mathematical Modelling in Biology
The course will serve as an introduction to mathematical modelling of biological processes. It will cover a selection of the following topics: Difference equations and applications. Linear differential equations and systems; phase plane analysis; nonlinear systems of differential equations and linearization; Poincaré-Bendixson Theorem. Applications of differential equations to biology, including a logistic population with harvesting; predator-prey model; competing species; epidemic models. Examples of partial differential equations; reaction-diffusion equation; pattern formation.
MAT332H5: Introduction to Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos
Stability in nonlinear systems of differential equations, bifurcation theory, chaos, strange attractors, iteration of nonlinear mappings and fractals. This course will be geared towards students with interest in sciences.
MAT334H5: Complex Variables
Theory of functions of one complex variable: analytic and meromorphic functions; Cauchy's theorem, residue calculus. Topics from: conformal mappings, analytic continuation, harmonic functions.
MAT337H5: Introduction to Real Analysis
The real numbers; Sequences and series; Functional limits; Topology in R^n; Differentiation and Integration; Power Series; Metric Spaces; Integrability and sets of measure zero. The course emphasizes rigour and theory.
MAT344H5: Introduction to Combinatorics
Basic counting principles, generating functions, permutations with restrictions. Fundamentals of graph theory with algorithms; applications (including network flows).
MAT354H5: Complex Analysis
Complex numbers, the complex plane and Riemann sphere, Möbius transformations, elementary functions and their mapping properties, conformal mapping, holomorphic functions, Cauchy's theorem and integral formula. Taylor and Laurent series, maximum modulus principle, Schwarz' lemma, residue theorem and residue calculus.
MAT386H5: Topics in Applied Mathematics
Introduction to a topic of current interest in applied mathematics. Content will vary from year to year. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L, T) from year to year, but will be between 36-48 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
MAT387H5: Topics in Mathematics
Introduction to a topic of current interest in mathematics. Content will vary from year to year. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L, T) from year to year, but will be between 36-60 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
MAT388H5: Topics in Advanced Mathematics
Introduction to a topic of current interest in mathematics. Content will vary from year to year. This course may include a tutorial and/or practical section in some years. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L, T) from year to year, but will be between 36-60 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
MAT392H5: Ideas of Mathematics
This is a one-term course to give students extensive practice in the writing of mathematics. The format will be to study excellent expositions of important ideas of mathematics and then to assign short writing assignments based on them.
MAT397H5: Further Studies in Mathematics
Students explore a topic in mathematics under the supervision of a faculty member.
MAT398H5: Further Studies in Mathematics
Students explore a topic in mathematics under the supervision of a faculty member.
MAT399H5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their third or fourth year to work in the research project of a professor in return for 399H course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Research Opportunity Program (ROP) for more details.
MAT399Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their third or fourth year to work in the research project of a professor in return for 399Y course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Research Opportunity Program (ROP) for more details.
MAT401H5: Polynomial Equations and Fields
Commutative rings; quotient rings. Construction of the rationals. Polynomial algebra. Fields and Galois theory: Field extentions, adjunction of roots of a polynomial. Constructibiliy, trisection of angles, construction of regular polygons. Galois groups of polynomials, in particular cubics, quartics. Insolvability of quintics by radicals.
MAT402H5: Classical Geometries
Euclidean and non-Euclidean plane and space geometries. Real and complex projective space. Models of the hyperbolic plane. Connections with the geometry of surfaces.
MAT405H5: Introduction to Topology
Sets and functions; Topology in R^n; Topological spaces; Open and closed sets; Closure and interior; Continuous functions; Quotient spaces; Connectedness and compactness; Separation axioms and related theorems.
MAT406H5: Mathematical Introduction to Game Theory
Combinatorial games: Nim and other impartial games; Sprague-Grundy value; existence of a winning strategy in partisan games. Two-player (matrix) games: zero-sum games and Von-Neuman's minimax theorem; general sum-matrix games, prisoner's dilemma, Nash equilibrium, cooperative games, asymmetric information. Multi-player games: coalitions and the Shapley value. Possible additional topics: repeated (stochastic) games; auctions; voting schemes and Arrow's paradox. Mathematical tools that may be introduced include hyperplane separation of convex sets and Brouwer's fixed point theorem. Numerous examples will be analyzed in depth, to offer insight to the mathematical theory and its relation with real life situations.
MAT478H5: Topics in Mathematics
Introduction to a topic of current interest in mathematics. Content will vary from year to year. This course may include a tutorial and/or practical section in some years. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L, T) from year to year, but will be between 36-60 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
MAT486H5: Topics in Applied Mathematics
Introduction to a topic of current interest in applied mathematics. Content will vary from year to year. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L, T) from year to year, but will be between 36-48 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
MAT488H5: Topics in Advanced Mathematics
Introduction to a topic of current interest in mathematics. Content will vary from year to year. This course may include a tutorial and/or practical section in some years. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L, T) from year to year, but will be between 36-60 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
MAT492H5: Senior Thesis
An exposition on a topic in mathematics written under the supervision of a faculty member. Open to students in Mathematical Sciences Specialist program.
MAT497H5: Further Studies in Mathematics
Students explore a topic in mathematics under the supervision of a faculty member.
MAT498H5: Further Studies in Mathematics
Students explore a topic in mathematics under the supervision of a faculty member.
MAT499H5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their third or fourth year to work in the research project of a professor in return for 499H course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Research Opportunity Program (ROP) for more details.
MAT499Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their third or fourth year to work in the research project of a professor in return for 499Y course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Research Opportunity Program (ROP) for more details.
MGD415H5: E-Business Strategies
Electronic business, the extensive use of the web and the Internet, is radically changing existing businesses. New Internet businesses are also being created at an unprecedented rate. New business models, e-business technologies, payment mechanisms, legal and regulatory issues (e.g., intellectual property rights, privacy and security) and the economics of e-business will be investigated from a research and practical perspective.
MGD421H5: Technological Entrepreneurship
This course explores the methods and frameworks of entrepreneurship through an experiential learning model (learning by doing). Students will begin the process of developing a new business venture, exploring their own business ideas and developing a business plan and pitch while working in teams. Topics include the business model, customers and markets, financial models, competition, intellectual property, funding and investment and characteristics of entrepreneurial teams.
MGD426H5: Enterprise Risk Management
This course will address the identification and management of risks that are specific to digital industries such as network penetration, transaction processing interruption and flow disruption, provision of audit and backup facilities. The course will also integrate technical security issues along with managerial and legal considerations.
MGD427H5: Advanced Legal Issues
This course will build on the foundations established in CCT206H5. Issues relating to the protection of digital rights, taxation, privacy, jurisdiction and regulation will be examined in detail through the use of recent legal scholarship and evolving case law.
MGD429H5: Data Analysis II
This course offers an overview of data analytics principles, approaches, and technologies that allow businesses to generate business intelligence. Business intelligence refers to all the means required to collect, exploit and analyze data in order to provide the right information to decision-makers at the right time. This course is designed for individuals interested in Business Intelligence practices and analysis from a management point of view, without a detailed focus on statistical or programming methods.
MGM101H5: Introduction to Management Functions
This course shows how the principal management disciplines provide analytical tools for understanding organizations and their management, how the disciplines inter-relate and how they underpin the activities of organizations.
MGM102H5: Management in a Changing Environment
This course introduces the environment in which managers operate, and to the managerial role. It explores the Canadian business system, the economic, technological and social trends that are bringing about change in the system, and the basic principles of managing in this environment. Not open to students enrolled in the 3rd or 4th year of the Commerce Major or Specialist program.
MGM320H5: Financial Statement Analysis and Interpretation
This course will provide an understanding of financial reports, and their use for investment and management decisions. Cases will be used to enhance problem-solving skills and will integrate ideas from finance, management and financial accounting and other areas of study. The course focuses on the interpretation and use of financial statement data for the purpose of assessing the financial performance of a business operation, not on the technical details of accounting rules.
MGM360H5: Compensation
This course explores the theory and process of developing compensation systems as part of an organization’s larger system for managing human potential. The course focuses on the major components of compensation strategy design such as legislation, principles of equity and fairness, job analysis, job evaluation, compensation surveys, benefits and incentives. Current events in relation to compensation are explored. Students will also acquire hands-on experience in building a compensation strategy.
MGM364H5: Labour Relations
The role, structure, and performance of industrial relations within the framework of Canada's socio-economic-political system. Growth and history of the Canadian Labour movement: its philosophy and structure. Management's strategies and tactics in collective bargaining; public policy in the field of industrial relations; strikes in so-called emergency situations: the role of unions and collective bargaining in inflation.
MGM365H5: HR Planning
During Human Resource Planning, organizations identify changes in human resources required to meet their future goals. In this course, students will learn about the steps involved in HR Planning including labour market forecasting, goal setting and strategic planning, and program implementation and evaluation.
MGM390H5: Business Law
(Formerly MGM290H5). This course provides an overview of the public institutions, laws and regulations that affect the structure and management of Canadian organizations.
MGM464H5: Recruitment and Selection
An organization's success depends on its ability to recruit and select top talent. This course is designed to provide students with a deep understanding of the methods and application of various recruitment and selection techniques within organizations. Students will learn to recognize and create effective, resource-efficient recruitment programs, and how to identify the most qualified individuals from a pool of applicants.
MGM465H5: Occupational Health & Safety
As individuals spend more and more time at work, it becomes increasingly important for organizations to protect their employees from harm and to support their physical, psychological, emotional, and social welfare. Students in this course will gain the knowledge and skills necessary to design and foster healthy and safe working environments.
MGM466H5: Training & Development
The goal of training and development is to grow the potential of employees within an organization. This course is designed to provide students with an understanding of how to improve job-related competencies through training and how to prepare employees for future job responsibilities through development. Topics covered include needs assessment, design, implementation, and evaluation of training and development programs.
MGT010H5: Effective Business Practices and Leadership Skills Capstone
This culminating course offers students in the Effective Business Practices and Leadership Skills Certificate an opportunity to integrate and synthesize their academic learning with their work-integrated learning experience. Students will engage with other students in the certificate program to share their experiences, complete their final workplace reflection exercises, produce a written report of their workplace experience, and exhibit their experience in the form of a final poster presentation. This course is required for all students in the Certificate in Effective Business Practices and Leadership Skills. No credit is awarded for this course.
MGT120H5: Introduction to Financial Accounting
Introduction to the theory and concepts of financial accounting. Students learn how to construct and interpret financial statements. Topics include an introductory understanding of accounting and the context within which accounting occurs.
MGT150H5: Financial Planning for Individuals
This course will cover personal finance topics for individuals at all stages of life. Topics include budgeting, borrowing, investing, insurance and retirement planning. Tax issues associated with these topics is also covered including the basics of personal income tax. Case studies are used extensively to illustrate the material.
MGT201H5: Coding for Business
Targeted to business students with little or no programming experience, the course provides an understanding of the role computation has in solving business problems and to help students be able to write small programs to accomplish practical tasks in the business world.
MGT211H5: Special Topics for Management
Topics and issues in Management. Content in any given year will depend on the instructor. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
MGT212H5: Special Topics for Management
Topics and issues in Management. Content in any given year will depend on the instructor. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
MGT218H5: Quantitative Analysis for Management
Acquaints students with the statistical principles that managers need in order to extract information from numerical data, and to understand the formal principles of decision-making under conditions of uncertainty. Covers descriptive statistics, elementary probability, expected values, sampling distributions, point and interval estimation, hypothesis testing for normal and binomial data.
MGT220H5: Intermediate Accounting I
Expands the analysis of financial accounting beyond MGT120H5. Cases are used to develop critical thinking and communication skills. Topics include accounting's conceptual framework, analysis of business and financial statements, accounting for assets, and valuation of bonds.
MGT223H5: Managerial Accounting I
Covers conceptual and analytical foundations of cost accounting and uses of accounting by management. Cost concepts for product costing and decision making provide an understanding of the uses of accounting information by management. Costing and control concepts are analyzed to equip students with tools for establishing costing systems and to make decisions.
MGT225H5: Intermediate Accounting II
Expands the analysis of financial accounting beyond MGT220H5. Technical topics include liabilities, shareholders’ equity, complex financial instruments, accounting for leases, measuring and reporting pensions and earnings per share. The emphasis is on analysis and developing judgment.
MGT231H5: Business Finance I
(Formerly MGT338H5) This course analyzes the financial investment decision-making process of individuals and firms. It provides an introduction to present-value techniques, capital budgeting decision-rules, the problem of investment under uncertainty, and portfolio theory.
MGT232H5: Business Finance II
MGT252H5: Principles of Marketing
An introduction to the basic concepts of market definition, consumer behaviour, and the principal marketing functions: product line development, pricing, distribution, promotion, salesforce management, advertising, research, and planning.
MGT260H5: Managing Human Potential
(Formerly MGT460H5) Human resource management is studied from the perspective of the manager/practitioner. The course focuses on current theory and practices in the major functions of human resource management. Class exercises and projects are used to provide students with some practical HR experience.
MGT262H5: Psychology at Work
Theoretical ideas and practical applications concerning individual and group behaviour in organizations. We explore relevant problems confronting management: motivation, influence, communication, supervision, decision-making, and work force diversity.
MGT270H5: Data Analytics for Management
This course introduces the analytical mindset and data analytics skills that business professionals need to analyze and evaluate a variety of data to create insights for making decisions. In particular, you will learn to ask the right questions, prepare relevant data, apply appropriate data analytics methods, and interpret results to answer questions. You will also learn to use common data analytics tools, such as Excel, Access (SQL), and Tableau/Power BI to prepare, analyze, and model financial data. Finally, you will apply the analytical mindset and data analytics skills to address various business problems using financial and general business data.
MGT299H5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides second year undergraduate students, who have developed some knowledge of a discipline and its research methods, an opportunity to work in the research project of a professor in return for course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, develop their research skills and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Project descriptions for participating faculty members for the following summer and fall/winter sessions are posted on the ROP website in mid-February and students are invited to apply at that time. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
MGT299Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This courses provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their second year to work in the research project of a professor in return for 299Y course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
MGT300H5: Presentation Skills and Workplace Preparation
The ability to communicate effectively is an important skill in business and when preparing for the workplace. Through oral and written communication exercises, self-reflection, and other activities students will improve their communication, presentation, interviewing and networking skills and prepare for the workplace.
MGT301H5: Coding and Data Mining for Business Analytics
Targeted to business students with some programming experience, the course provides the foundation to take more advanced courses in the Department of Management that require programming knowledge and data mining skills. Topics in this accelerated course will include data structures, algorithms, analytics (i.e. descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive) including data visualization. Students will be expected to integrate concepts from statistics as well.
MGT311H5: Special Topics for Management
Topics and issues in Management. Content in any given year will depend on the instructor. This course may include 24 practical hours. See timetable for schedule. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
MGT312H5: Special Topics for Management
Topics and issues in Management. Content in any given year will depend on the instructor. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
MGT321H5: Audit & Assurance
A study of the concepts and theory underlying audit practice. Students are introduced to the CICA Handbook recommendations and guidelines for assurance. Practical examples are used to help students develop skills in exercising professional judgment.
MGT322H5: Financial Accounting Theory and Policy II
Examines several current measurement and disclosure issues in financial reporting, within a "quality of earnings" framework. Topics include: financial instruments, measuring and reporting pensions, financial reporting of corporate income taxes, corporate reporting via the Internet, etc. The emphasis is on developing judgment. Please note: This course will be phased out as of Summer 2022. Students admitted to the Accounting program in Fall 2020 and onward should enrol in MGT225H5 Intermediate Accounting II.
MGT323H5: Managerial Accounting II
Introduction to the different contexts in which costs need to be determined for goods sold internally, externally, domestically, and internationally. Other topics include appropriate cost structures for centralized, decentralized, and matrix forms of organizations and costs for long-term capital projects. Cases are used to promote understanding of the theories.
MGT324H5: Equity Valuation and Analysis
This course will provide a framework for analyzing a firm’s past performance, estimating its future performance, and valuing its equity. You will understand how to interpret financial statements, analyze cash flows, make judgments about earnings quality and uncover hidden assets and liabilities. It helps you become a sophisticated user of financial accounting data.
MGT325H5: Critical Thinking, Analysis and Decision Making I
(Formerly MGT320H5) This course introduces students to integration of different areas of studies, stressing the pervasive competencies and critical thinking skills required from business school graduates, future professional accountants and advisors. This course focuses on developing students' decision-making and written communication skills.
MGT326H5: Advanced Accounting
The emphasis in this course is on accounting issues and practices relating to intercompany investments, foreign currency transactions, investments, not-for-profit organizations and emerging accounting issues where appropriate. Assigned material includes cases to ensure that the user impact of accounting choices is appreciated
MGT330H5: Investments
Security analysis and portfolio management. Emphasis is placed on an analysis of bonds and common stocks.
MGT336H5: Business Valuation
This is a rigorous course on valuing securities, primarily equities, targeted at students interested in careers involving the analysis of financial statements. We will discuss how managerial discretion and accounting rules influence financial statements and how to analyze financial information to reveal a firm's true performance accurately. We will discuss the mechanics of forecasting and how to become adept at it. We will discuss the intricacies of different valuation models and understand the nuances that link them. Learning will be through lectures, case analyses, in-class exercises, and homework assignments. Almost all classes will involve an Excel-based activity, case discussion, and real-time data. At the end of the course, students can expect to gain significant expertise in all facets of valuation.
MGT341H5: Financial Modeling and Data Analytics
This course studies applications in corporate finance, investments and risk management. Finance lab software tools will be used to work through problems on topics such as Capital Budgeting and Valuation, Portfolio Analysis, Firm Valuation, Valuing Securities and Risk Management.
MGT353H5: Introduction to Marketing Management
An applications-oriented course intended to develop the analytic skills required of marketing managers. The course is designed to improve skills in analyzing marketing situations, identifying market opportunities, developing marketing strategies, making concise recommendations, and defending these recommendations.
MGT354H5: Consumer Behaviour
Formulating successful marketing strategies requires an understanding of consumers' cultures, motivations, cognitions, and emotions. Students will learn how to use theoretical perspectives from psychology, economics, anthropology, and other disciplines to generate predictions about consumers, interpret consumer reactions to marketing stimuli, and develop rigorous skills in marketing analysis.
MGT355H5: Pricing
Approaches pricing decision as an intersection of economics and psychology. Using product categories as diverse as financial services, healthcare, industrial products and consumer packaged goods, students study dynamic pricing, value pricing, price customization, price bundling and multi-part tariffs, menu costs and price stickiness, sales promotions, and pricing in two-sided markets.
MGT363H5: Designing Effective Organizations
The course covers the relationship between design and effectiveness; the impact and determinants (environment, technology, competitiveness, size, life-cycle, communication needs) of an organization's form as well as the difficulties of re-framing organizations.
MGT371H5: Business Technology Management
This course covers key management decisions based on the impact of sustainable and disruptive technology and their role in strategy, profitable growth, and modern work environments. Unlike programming courses, the focus is on knowledge to help students contribute to technology based decisions in the organizations that they join.
MGT373H5: Predictive Analytics
Delve into machine learning and its technical applications, obtain a conceptual understanding of prediction problems and algorithms, learn to interpret results using statistical software, and complete a challenging prediction project using real data that will put your knowledge to the test.
This course will introduce students to a diverse collection of big data and machine learning techniques. These techniques are often aimed at identifying and quantifying various structures in data to answer business problems and provide managerial insights.
MGT374H5: Operations Management
Operations management is concerned with the facilities and their operation to deliver the goods and services of the organization. The course develops this theme and gives a theoretical framework for managing operations. Some of the major themes include aggregate planning, materials management, and inventory control. This course introduces students to modern quantitative and computing tools necessary for in-depth operational analysis and planning.
MGT393H5: Legal Environment of Business I
An introduction for commerce students to the Canadian legal system focusing on business entities, the structure of the Canadian court system, the various elements of contract law and the law of negligence.
MGT394H5: Legal Environment of Business II
This course builds on the legal principles developed in Legal I and canvasses other areas of law that impact a business entity. The course deals with the Sales of Goods Act and relevant consumer protection legislation, employment law, environmental law, the Personal Property Security Act and the rights of the secured creditor.
MGT399H5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides senior undergraduate students who have developed some knowledge of a discipline and its research methods an opportunity to work in the research project of a professor in return for course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, develop their research skills and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Project descriptions for participating faculty members for the following summer and fall/winter sessions are posted on the ROP website in mid-February and students are invited to apply at that time. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
MGT399Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides senior undergraduate students who have developed some knowledge of a discipline and its research methods an opportunity to work in the research project of a professor in return for course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, develop their research skills and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Project descriptions for participating faculty members for the following summer and fall/winter sessions are posted on the ROP website in mid-February and students are invited to apply at that time. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
MGT401H5: Supervised Reading Course on an Approved Subject
Open when a faculty member is willing and able to supervise. Students must obtain the approval of the Director of Commerce and the supervising faculty member before enrolling.
MGT402H5: Supervised Reading Course on an Approved Subject
Open when a faculty member is willing and able to supervise. Students must obtain the approval of the Director of Commerce and the supervising faculty member before enrolling.
MGT411H5: Special Topics in Management
Topics and issues in Management. Content in any given year will depend on the instructor. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
MGT412H5: Special Topics in Management
Topics and issues in Management. Content in any given year will depend on the instructor. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
MGT414H5: Special Topics in Management
Topics and issues in Management. Content in any given year will depend on the instructor. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
MGT415H5: Special Topics in Management
Topics and issues in Management. Content in any given year will depend on the instructor. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
MGT416H5: Special Topics in Management
Topics and issues in Management. Content in any given year will depend on the instructor. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
MGT417H5: Special Topics in Management
Topics and issues in Management. Content in any given year will depend on the instructor. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
MGT420H5: Critical Thinking, Analysis and Decision Making II
(Formerly MGT419H5) This is a capstone case course stressing the pervasive competencies and critical thinking skills required from business school graduates, future professional accountants and advisors. This course provides students with an opportunity to integrate the technical and practical knowledge obtained in the prerequisite and other University courses and to apply this knowledge to case type situations. Because of the integrative nature and content of the course, the course will be directed towards students who have completed most of their required courses and who are seeking an accounting designation.
MGT421H5: Advanced Audit & Assurance
The course focuses on the reasoning and evidence theory underlying audit decision making. Coverage includes professional judgement, statistical auditing, assurance engagements, and public sector auditing.
MGT422H5: Advanced IT Audit and Data Analytics
This course is an extension of the study of areas covered in the introductory audit course and will include the application of risk and materiality to more advanced topic areas with a focus on digitized information. Other topics include special reports, future-oriented financial information and prospectuses. The course will incorporate the use of data analytics in auditing and will explore how to analyze financial data in order to assist in audit engagements.
MGT423H5: Canadian Income Taxation I
This is the first of two courses in federal income tax law. It is designed to give the student a basic understanding of the Income Tax Act and its administration. This is achieved by applying the law to practical problems and cases. Topics covered include administration of the tax system, employment income, business and property income, capital gains, other income and deductions, computation of taxable income and taxes payable for individuals. The GST/HST implications, where relevant, will also be discussed. The two course sequence (MGT423H5 and MGT429H5) have been designed to provide participants with coverage of the tax content required by the professional accounting bodies.
MGT428H5: Management Control
Management control includes all the processes and systems, many accounting-based, by which key managers allegedly ensure that resources are acquired and used effectively and efficiently in the accomplishment of an organization's goals. The case method is used to provide an understanding of the issues and environment of management control.
MGT429H5: Canadian Income Taxation II
This is the second of two courses in federal income tax law. It is designed to give the student an understanding of more complex issues of Canadian Income Tax law and tax planning. This is achieved through a combination of lectures and the application of the law to practical problems and case settings. Topics include computation of corporate taxes, integration, corporate reorganizations, surplus distributions, partnerships and trusts.
MGT430H5: Behavioural Finance
This interdisciplinary course considers the ways in which human psychology influences financial decision making. Topics may include prospect theory, overconfidence, mental accounting, emotions, and neurofinance.
MGT431H5: Advanced Topics in Corporate Finance
MGT434H5: Mergers and Acquisitions
The main focus is to develop a solid understanding of the valuation of mergers and acquisitions from the perspective of a variety of stakeholders including: acquiring and target firm management, directors, and shareholders; financiers; consumers, and; competition regulators and policymakers. Themes to be explored include M&A and corporate strategy, motivations for M&A, corporate restructuring and divestitures, financing of M&A activity, dealing with competition authorities, and M&A 'waves' over the past century.
MGT435H5: Financial Market Trading
This Li Koon Chun Finance Learning Centre (FLC) lab-based course will provide a hands-on introduction to the functioning of security markets and the trading of financial instruments. Students will learn how the market prices financial securities, how to use the Python programming language and finance theory to develop trading strategies, and how to identify and manage risks of trading strategies. Cases will cover various securities, such as fixed income securities, equities, futures and options. Students will further learn how to deal with various kinds of risks, such as liquidity risk, market risk, downside risk, crash risk, and credit risk.
MGT437H5: Strategy and Governance
This course covers concepts in strategic management and focuses on the role of corporate governance in formulating, implementing and monitoring a firm's strategic objectives. Although the course will cover economic foundations of strategy, market, industry and competitive analysis, the main focus will be on the internal operations of an organization. Corporate governance will be examined in the broad sense of the term and will include an overview of country-level legal environment, regulatory agencies, stock market, and the firm's board of directors. The objective of the course is to enhance students' understanding the operating tensions facing firms and the means of addressing such tensions through country-level and firm-level corporate governance systems.
MGT438H5: Futures and Options Markets
Analysis of derivative instruments such as futures contracts, put and call options and swaps. Emphasis is placed on the valuation of these instruments as a foundation for valuing complex securities.
MGT440H5: Fixed Income Markets
This is a capital markets course that describes important fixed income securities and markets. It will emphasize traditional bond and term structure concepts as well as current events and/or securities affecting the functioning of these markets.
MGT442H5: Financial Distress and Insolvency
Traditional business courses often deal with financially healthy firms. However, failure is an inevitable reality for many businesses. The problems currently being witnessed by the retail sector are a case in point. According to official Canadian government statistics, 3580 businesses filed for insolvency in 2018 alone, with more than a quarter of these businesses being from Ontario. This course aims to study the reasons why some firms find themselves in financial distress, alternative courses of action (including legal options) in response to financial distress, and the role of various stakeholders in the process.
MGT443H5: Quantitative Finance
This course represents a hands-on introduction to modern quantitative finance and risk-management models. The course will enable students to build computer algorithms tailored to financial problems. Emphasis is placed on high-frequency trading data, portfolio optimization and factor models for security pricing, machine learning and prediction, risk quantification and management, and option pricing algorithms.
MGT444H5: FinTech, Blockchain, & Decentralized Finance
This course provides students with a solid understanding of the technologies, tools, and applications that will transform and define the financial industry over the next decade. Students will study the technological and economic mechanisms that make blockchain work, the services it hosts, how it disrupts the financial industry, the risks, how a decentralized protocol can be governed and regulated, and what problems Decentralized Finance (DeFi) solves. Students will also learn about smart contracts, types of tokens and their uses, digital money, oracles, stablecoins, DeFi-lending and DeFi-trading, crypto-regulation, and central-bank-issued digital currencies. This course is geared to Commerce and Management students and does not require engineering or computer science knowledge.
MGT445H5: Enterprise Risk Management and Analytics
This course studies risk management from a holistic perspective for various institutions (i.e. non-financial and financial). Various risk categories will be considered such as investment risk, financial risk, cyber risk, operational risk, market risk, energy risk, technology risk, etc. Cases, models, and frameworks will be integrated into the course. Depending on current market issues, the data and cases may cover various areas from energy (i.e. weather), sports, accounting, finance, government (public), arts/entertainment, health, technology, etc. Special topics may also be considered such as environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) issues.
MGT450H5: Digital Marketing
This course explores various digital marketing strategies in the context of online and mobile advertising platforms, and will provide a comprehensive understanding of both existing marketing strategies and emerging trends. Various domains will be covered in this course (search, display, mobile, social, etc.) to enable students to explore how emerging technologies are used to facilitate B2B and B2C transactions. This class will explore the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to digital marketing while helping students develop a better understanding of various elements of marketing campaigns from formulation to integration and assessment.
MGT451H5: Business Strategy for the Digital Economy
Learn about the fastest growing sector of the economy and develop tools to analyze strategic problems within a business, and train rigorously, using theory and data, to think about new strategic opportunities for businesses in the digital age.
MGT452H5: Marketing and Behavioural Economics
The emphasis in this course is on marketing decision making in a dynamic environment using behavioural economics and insights. The course focuses on the major decisions facing individuals in many different contexts in marketing, as well as economics, finance, and other areas of management. In turn, these insights help us to understand how managers can make more behaviourally informed decisions and create behaviourally informed organizations.
MGT453H5: Marketing Research
Marketing research is studied from the perspective of the marketing manager. The course focuses on the initiation, design, and interpretation of research as an aid to marketing decision making. Case studies and projects are used to provide students with some practical research experiences.
MGT454H5: Special Topics in Marketing
This course focuses on a specific theoretical or functional area of marketing. The area of concentration depends on the instructor. Examples of areas that may be covered include current issues in consumer behaviour, advertising, industrial marketing, or retailing. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
MGT455H5: Marketing Consulting: Models for Analysis
This course reviews the science side of marketing by studying multiple models used by companies and consulting firms in the different steps of the marketing process. The marketing consulting approach provides a deeper understanding of the process that supports marketing management decisions. This is of benefit not only for students following a marketing consulting path, but also for students joining marketing departments of Canadian firms. To enhance the learning experience the course will be strongly based on software applications that offer hands on exposure to real life corporate applications.
MGT458H5: Big Data and Marketing Analysis
Recent advances in computer technology have led to an explosion in the amount of data available for companies to use for market research. In order to be effective as a marketing manager today, it is necessary to understand how to apply cutting edge statistical models to large databases, such as scanner data, loyalty program data, or internet marketing data, and to be able to obtain managerial insights from model results. This course will introduce students to marketing analytics driven by big data, using applications from real world business problems.
MGT461H5: Negotiations
We negotiate every day - with potential employers, coworkers, roommates, landlords, parents, bosses, merchants, service providers, and even our friends and romantic partners. Negotiation is the art and science of securing agreements between two or more interdependent parties. It is a craft that must hold cooperation and competition in creative tension. It can be very difficult to do well. Even the most experienced negotiators often fall prey to common biases and errors in judgment. This course is highly experiential - students will practice, reflect, analyze, and practice again - and draws its insights from research in the cognitive, behavioral and social sciences.
MGT463H5: Managing Global Organizations
Understanding the global context of organizations is essential to surviving the competitive business environment while creating value in a sustainable and responsible way. This course provides a broad overview of the global environment and introduce critical perspectives in international business, as well as the key management challenges of operating across nations and cultures. It will also consider ways in which management theories and practices should be adapted to transcend as well as be responsive to diverse business, social, and governmental settings. The course weaves together conceptual and practical considerations to create a balanced and exciting learning experience. It also includes an optional International Learning Experience component that involves travel to a country(s) outside of Canada to gain firsthand exposure to management practices in a different setting.
MGT480H5: Internship
Through a part-time, unpaid, 100-hour work placement or "internship", students apply management skills and knowledge gained through previous course work. The internship will provide students with a valuable opportunity to make personal contacts in the public or private sector. The course is also intended to help students acquire practical skills that will serve them well in the workplace. An application is required.
MGT480Y5: Internship
Through a part-time, unpaid, 200-hour work placement or "internship", students apply management skills and knowledge gained through previous course work. The internship will provide students with a valuable opportunity to make personal contacts in the public or private sector. The course is also intended to help students acquire practical skills that will serve them well in the workplace. An application is required.
MGT491H5: Introduction to International Business
Focuses on developing an understanding of the fundamentals of doing business in an international environment. Based on the application of management theory, (trade theory, modes of entry, foreign direct investment, theory of the multinational) to the strategic management problems of organizing business in the international arena.
MGT492H5: Introduction to Strategic Management
Focuses on industry analysis and different models of the firm. The key questions addressed are: "why do some firms succeed where others fail?" and "what strategy should a firm employ to reach its goals?"
MGT493H5: Small Business Management
Skills needed to set up and run a small business. Development of a business plan. Securing financing. Finding and keeping customers. Operations management. Aspects of legal, financial and taxation concerns of smaller businesses.
MGT494H5: Entrepreneurial Strategy
This course introduces students to the challenges an entrepreneur faces when starting a business: assessing his/her goals and ability, attracting financial and human resources, competing in the marketplace, and dealing with laws and regulations. Readings and discussion material will include actual business cases as well as academic articles and book chapters. The class is of relevance to students interested in starting new businesses, working in consulting or finance, and pursuing research and graduate studies.
MGT495H5: Entrepreneurial Finance and Venture Capital
This course examines the elements of entrepreneurial finance, focusing on technology-based start-up ventures and the early stages of company development. The course addresses key questions which challenge all entrepreneurs: how much money can and should be raised; when should it be raised and from whom; what is a reasonable valuation of the company; how should funding, employment contracts and exit decisions be structured. It aims to prepare students for these decisions, both as entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. It also aims to create awareness to the specific issues faced by minorities in the entrepreneurship field. In addition, the course includes an in-depth analysis of the structure of the private equity industry.
PHL103H5: Introduction to Philosophy: Knowledge and Reality
This introductory course takes up philosophical questions about knowledge, reality, language, and the mind. A variety of traditional and contemporary perspectives will be considered.
Note: students may take either or both PHL103H5 and PHL113H5, in any order or simultaneously. The two courses differ only in the philosophical topics they cover.
PHL105Y5: Introduction to Philosophy
An introduction to philosophy, covering such topics as conceptions of human nature and the good life, the foundation of morality, the relation of the individual to the state, arguments for the existence of God, debates about the meaning and possibility of free will, the theory of knowledge and the nature of reality.
PHL113H5: Introduction to Philosophy: Persons and Value
This introductory course explores philosophical theories of human nature, morality, justice, the good life, freedom, and responsibility. A variety of traditional and contemporary perspectives will be considered.
Note: Students may take either or both PHL113H5 and PHL103H5, in any order or simultaneously. The two courses differ only in the philosophical topics they cover.
PHL200H5: Ancient Philosophy
Some core texts of ancient philosophy, concentrating on the work of Plato and Aristotle. Topics include the good life, the soul, knowledge, virtue and the nature of reality.
PHL204H5: Philosophy in Everyday Life
This one-semester course covers philosophical topics that most people talk about, or at least think about, in their everyday lives,—e.g., during conversations with friends, or while watching the news, or when deciding how to vote in an election. Such topics include, for example, the difference between art and pornography, the possibility of life after death, the evolution vs. creationism debate, the ethics of abortion and doctor-assisted suicide, and the possibility of intelligent robots. Each topic will be introduced via relevant public media (e.g., articles from the New York Times series “The Stone” and similar pieces from The Guardian, CBC news, NPR) and other popular sources (e.g., Ted Talks, youtube videos)) and then pursued in several accessible readings from the philosophical literature. A shared “library” of readings for the course will be built up (e.g., on Blackboard) by the instructors and students and updated as new issues of popular interest arise.
Note: PHL204H5 does not count for credit toward any minor, major, or specialist program in philosophy, but can be taken to fulfill the Humanities breadth/ distribution requirement.
PHL210Y5: 17th and 18th Century Philosophy
17th and 18th century discussions of topics like causation, knowledge, mind-body dualism in philosophers like René Descartes, Baruch Spinoza, John Locke, Anne Conway, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Émilie du Chatelêt, David Hume, Immanuel Kant.
PHL220H5: Existentialism
Human perception and knowledge of reality; freedom and the meaning of human life; sexuality and the body. Authors include Heidegger, Buber, Marcel, Camus, Sartre, de Beauvoir, Merleau-Ponty.
PHL221H5: Philosophy at the Movies
This course considers fundamental philosophical themes - the meaning of life and death, the nature of responsibility, fate and agency, knowledge and illusion, personal identity, alienation and belonging, love and sex, politics, ethics, and morality, among others - through film. The course also considers some questions about film as a philosophical genre: of the medium of film as an alternative medium (an alternative to language and explicit argument) of philosophical expression; of whether and how film may convey philosophical insight otherwise unavailable; and of the role of interpretation in understanding film philosophically.
PHL233H5: Philosophy for Scientists
An introduction to philosophy tailored for students with backgrounds in mathematics and science. Topics include causation, explanation, the relation between scientific and mathematical theories and reality, the role of mathematics in scientific theories, the relevance of scientific and mathematical discoveries to ‘big’ traditional philosophical questions such as the nature of consciousness, whether we have free will, and the meaning of life.
PHL235H5: Philosophy of Religion
A philosophical analysis of some basic theological questions; the nature of religious belief and experience, the relationship between religion and morality, or religion and science, the role of religion in a pluralistic society.
PHL237H5: Introduction to East Asian Philosophy
An introduction to the main systems of East Asian philosophy, including Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, Shintoism, and Neo-Confucianism; the challenge of Western thought; the development of modern East Asian Philosophy.
PHL238H5: Introduction to South Asian Philosophy
An introduction to the main philosophical traditions of South Asia, focusing on their historical development and treatment of topics such as devotion, duty, ethics, consciousness, selfhood, suffering, meditation, enlightenment, knowledge, and reality. Readings may include the early Rig Veda, the Upanishads, early Buddhist thought, Jainism, Samkhya-Yoga Philosophy, and Classical Vedanta, among others.
PHL239H5: Critical Reasoning
The course covers the area of informal logic--the logic of ordinary language. Topics include: criteria for the critical assessment of arguments as strong or merely persuasive; different types of argument and techniques of refutation; their use and abuse.
PHL240H5: Minds and Machines
Can machines think and feel? Are human beings simply very complicated organic machines? These questions are discussed in the light of recent work on the simulation of intelligence and purposive behaviour.
PHL242H5: Science Fiction and Philosophy
Science fiction is a rich resource for philosophical thinking. Are we in a matrix? Are there alternative realities? Is teleportation, or telepathy, or telekinesis, or time travel, possible? In addition, philosophical thought experiments often include elements of science fiction, like twin-earths, zombies, swamp people, inverted spectra, brain-splitting, eternal recurrences, and evil demons. This course considers these topics -- both some philosophy of science fiction and some science fiction in philosophy.
PHL243H5: Philosophy of Human Sexuality
Philosophical issues about sex and sexual identity in the light of biological, psychological, and ethical theories of sex and gender. The concept of gender; male and female sex roles; theories of psycho-sexual development; sexual morality; "natural," "normal," and "perverse" sex; sexual liberation; love and sexuality.
PHL244H5: Human Nature
Theories of human nature, e.g., psychoanalysis, behaviourism, sociobiology. Current issues, e.g., egoism and altruism, instincts, I.Q., rationality, sanity and mental illness.
PHL245H5: Modern Symbolic Logic
An introduction to formal deductive logic. Semantics, symbolization, and techniques of natural deduction in sentential logic. Symbolization, natural deduction, and models in monadic predicate logic. Symbolization and natural deduction with polyadic predicates. Introduction to advanced concepts in first-order logic, such as operations, identity, and models.
PHL246H5: Probability and Inductive Logic
The elements of axiomatic probability theory, and its main interpretations (frequency, logical, subjective). Reasoning with probabilities in decision making and science.
PHL255H5: Philosophy of Science
The nature of science and its development. Topics may include: the contrast between science and religion, between science and pseudo-science; the nature of scientific reasoning; scientific reality; science and objectivity; scientific revolutions; and the interaction between science, society, and values.
PHL258H5: Puzzles and Paradoxes
Philosophy often begins with a puzzle or paradox. Zeno once convincingly argued that motion was impossible, but people continue to move. The "liar's paradox" seems to show that everything is both true and false, but that cannot be right. In this course, we will examine these and related issues.
PHL265H5: Social and Political Philosophy
A survey of the major political theorists/theories of the Western philosophical tradition. Questions to be addressed include: Why obey the law? What is justice? What is the best form of government?
PHL267H5: Feminism
Main types of feminist theory: liberal, Marxist, Existential and "Radical." A number of ethical, political and psychological issues are considered.
PHL271H5: Ethics and the Law
Moral issues in the law, such as civil liberties and police powers, censorship, civil disobedience, the death penalty, inequality, paternalism and the constitutional protection of human rights. Case studies from Canadian law.
PHL272H5: Philosophy of Education
The nature, aims, and content of education; learning theory; education and indoctrination; the teaching of morals and the morality of teaching; the role and justification of educational institutions, their relation to society and to individual goals; authority and freedom in the school.
PHL273H5: Environmental Ethics
Environmental ethics is a relatively new development in philosophical thinking which focuses on the ethical and value questions arising from our relation to nature. Focal question of the area asks: Is the non-human world of ethical significance only insofar as it is connected with human well-being, or is ethically significant in itself? This course investigates and evaluates anthropocentrim, ecofeminism and radical biocentric theories of the deep ecologists.
PHL274H5: Ethics and Society
The course explores ethical problems posed by social issues such as inequality, poverty, war, corporate responsibility, the treatment of animals, and social media, against the background of major ethical and political theories.
PHL275H5: Ethics and Moral Philosophy
A survey of the major moral theorists/theories of the Western philosophical tradition. Questions to be addressed include: Why be moral? What makes certain actions right or wrong? Can we know what is morally right or wrong?
PHL282H5: Ethics: Death and Dying
An intermediate-level study of moral and legal problems, including the philosophical significance of death, the high-tech prolongation of life, definition and determination of death, suicide, active and passive euthanasia, the withholding of treatment, palliative care and the control of pain, living wills; recent judicial decisions.
PHL283H5: Bioethics
Moral implications of recent developments in medicine and the life sciences; related legal and social issues. Euthanasia, health care priorities, abortion, fertility control, against the background of some major ethical theories.
PHL284H5: Ethics of Eating
What obligations do we have in light of the effects of our food choices? Do we have any obligations to non-human animals; are we obliged to spare them painful lives and deaths? Are we obligated to spare their lives altogether? What about our obligations to our fellow humans, and to the environment that future humans will live in? Are we obligated to choose foods that minimize harm to the environment and to other communities? We will explore these questions at both the individual and the social-policy levels. For example, should we as a society have laws that ban certain foods, or certain treatments of animals? Or do such laws trample the freedom of individual choice? Whatever laws we do have, are we as individuals obliged to take responsibility for what we eat? Or are the effects of our choices just an insignificant drop in the bucket, since they make no real difference given what everyone else is doing?
PHL285H5: Philosophy of Art
A study of some of the most important philosophical questions about art. For example, what exactly is a work of art? Can any object whatsoever be, or become, an artwork? Who or what determines whether something is art? Does each person decide for themselves, or does a certain community (the "art world") decide? Can one interpretation or evaluation of a work be better, or more justified, than another? If so, how do we tell which one is better?
PHL293H5: Special Topics in Philosophy
Topic to vary from year to year. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
PHL295H5: Philosophy of Business
Philosophical issues in ethics, social theory, and theories of human nature insofar as they bear on contemporary conduct of business. Issues include: Does business have moral responsibilities? Can social costs and benefits be calculated? Does modern business life determine human nature of the other way around? Do political ideas and institutions such as democracy have a role within business?
PHL299Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a rewarding opportunity for students in their second year to work in the research project of a professor in return for 299Y course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
PHL300H5: Topics in Ancient Philosophy
A study of some topic or thinker in the ancient period.
PHL301H5: The Philosophy of Plato
This course explores major themes in Plato’s philosophy through a selective reading of his dialogues. Among the areas tackled are the human good, the nature of the soul, knowledge, and the ultimate constitution of reality. Readings may include, though will not necessarily be confined to, the Euthyphro, Protagoras, Euthydemus, Meno, Gorgias, Republic, Phaedo, Phaedrus and Theaetetus.
PHL302H5: The Philosophy of Aristotle
This course explores major themes in Aristotle’s philosophy belonging to the fields of natural philosophy, metaphysics, ethics and epistemology. Readings may include, though are not necessarily confined to the Ethics, Physics, Metaphysics, Categories, On the soul and Analytics.
PHL307H5: Topics in Mediaeval Philosophy
A study of some of the principal figures and intellectual problems in the period from the first century to the sixteenth. Figures such as Philo, Augustine, Abelard, Avicenna, Maimonides, Aquinas, Duns Scotus, Ockham and Suarez will be studied on topics in metaphysics, epistemology, ethics and philosophy of nature.
PHL310H5: Topics in 17th and 18th Century Philosophy
A study of a topic or thinker in the 17th or 18th century.
PHL311H5: South Asian Philosophy
An intermediate-level course on one or more philosophical traditions from the South Asian world, including orthodox Indian schools (Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Samkhya, Yoga, Mimamsa, and Vedanta) and non-orthodox schools such as Buddhism and Jainism, with a focus on their theories of religion, ethics, epistemology, or metaphysics.
PHL314H5: Kant
A systematic study of The Critique of Pure Reason.
PHL315H5: Topics in Nineteenth Century Philosophy
A study of some topic or thinker in the 19th century.
PHL324H5: The Continental Tradition
A study of recent traditions of continental philosophy such as phenomenology, existentialism, hermeneutics, critical theory, structuralism and post-structuralism. Figures such as Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre, the Frankfurt school, Lacan, Foucault, Deleuze and Derrida.
PHL325H5: Early Analytic Philosophy
An examination of some of the classic texts of early analytic philosophy, concentrating on the work of Frege, Russell and Wittgenstein. Central topics to be covered include: the development of logic and its relation to arithmetic; the nature of language and meaning; truth and objectivity; the distinction between sense and reference; logical analysis; the relation between language and thought; and the bounds of intelligibility.
PHL327H5: Later Analytic Philosophy
An examination of the later analytic tradition from logical positivism to Kripke. The course will cover some of the following topics: meaning and verifiability; the relation between science and philosophy; ordinary language and philosophy; the nature and status of the analytic-synthetic distinction; meaning and theories of meaning; theories of truth; the nature of necessity; and reference and identity.
PHL332H5: Metaphysics
Typical topics: ontological categories; ontological commitment; the objectivity of space and time: causality and determinism; mind and body.
PHL333H5: Epistemology
Typical topics: knowledge and belief, perception, the analytic-synthetic distinction, theories of truth, necessity and the a priori.
PHL340H5: Philosophy of Mind
Typical topics: the brain-mind identity theory; consciousness intentionality and the mental; personal identity; the nature of human action.
PHL341H5: Practical Reason and Human Action
(Formerly: Freedom, Responsibility, and Human Action) The course will cover various topics in action theory and the nature of practical reason, such as the nature of intentional action and intentional explanations, the relation between morality and practical reason, the distinction between theoretical and practical reasoning, and the relation between motivation and evaluation.
PHL343H5: Freedom and Determinism
This course will examine the question of whether determinism is true, and to which extent and whether, determinism is compatible with the possibility that our will is free as well as the relation between freedom and responsibility. In particular, we will look at the plausibility of views such as compatibilism, hard determinism and libertarianism.
PHL345H5: Intermediate Logic
A continuation of PHL245, requiring no other prior knowledge of philosophy or mathematics. Symbolization, natural deduction, and models in polyadic predicate logic with operations and identity. Symbolization, natural deduction, and models for theories of descriptions. Introduction to metatheory, such as soundness and completeness.
PHL346H5: Choice and Chance
An intermediate level look at reasoning and decision making in the face of uncertainty. Topics may include: decision theory, game theory, social choice theory, confirmation theory, foundations of probability and statistics, puzzles of infinity and self-location, and the relationship between knowledge and uncertainty.
PHL347H5: Modality in Logic and Philosophy
Study of the concepts of necessity and possibility using extensions of classical logic: modal sentential logic, modal quantification logic, possible-world semantics, the metaphysics of modality. Other possible topics include: counterfactuals, epistemic logic, temporal logic, deontic logic, many-valued logic, and supervaluations.
PHL350H5: Philosophy of Language
Topics may include: Different approaches to the study of language; the analysis of central theoretical notions in the descriptions of language; the relation between thought and language; the relation between philosophy of language and metaphysics.
PHL354H5: Philosophy of Mathematics
Platonism versus nominalism, the relation between logic and mathematics, implications of Godel's and Church's theorems, formalism and intuitionism.
PHL355H5: Issues in Philosophy of Science
Central problems and contemporary issues. Topics may include: scientific inference and method; explanation; under-determination; the pessimistic induction; constructive empiricism; entity realism; structural realism; laws of nature.
PHL357H5: Philosophy of Biology
Conceptual issues in modern biology. Topics may include natural selection, biological kinds, the role of evolution in explaining human attributes such as rationality, cooperation, and communication, reductionism in molecular biology, and functional explanation in biology.
PHL358H5: Philosophical Issues in Cognitive Science
An examination of philosophical issues that arise in cognitive science, such as: the nature of consciousness, alternative models of computation in theories of cognition, the nature and function of perception and the emotions, the evolution of mind and language, and the relation among various fields of cognitive science such as psychology, linguistics, and neuroscience.
PHL360H5: Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence
This course examines contemporary artificial intelligence from a philosophical perspective. Topics include: the nature of intelligence, comparisons between biological and artificial learning, linguistic understanding and grounding in foundation models, moral guidance for AI systems, and the moral status of artificial agents.
PHL365H5: Issues in Political Philosophy
A study of work by political philosophers, typically both historical and contemporary, on topics such as justice, rights, welfare, and political authority.
PHL366H5: The Ethics of Borders and Immigration
In this class we will consider the moral standards that govern states rights (if any) to enforce restrictions on immigration, residency, and citizenship and peoples rights (if any) to immigrate and emigrate. Questions to be considered include: Do people have a right to move wherever they want? Do the citizens of a state have a right to choose who will be their co-nationals? Do they have a right to prefer people of particular religious, cultural, ethnic, or political persuasions? Do people have a right to leave the country in which they are born? Do countries have special obligations to refugees who are the victims of human rights violations? Are economic migrants due the same rights? Is it morally permissible to grant lesser rights to would-be migrants than native born citizens? Is it acceptable to sell the right to citizenship or permanent residency?
PHL367H5: Issues in Philosophy and Feminism
This course will examine selected philosophical topics in feminism, such as multiculturalism and women's rights, feminist epistemologies, ethics of care, the intersection between sexism and other forms of oppression, pornography.
PHL370H5: Issues in Philosophy of Law
A study of major issues in the philosophy of law such as the nature of law, responsibility and punishment, the obligation to obey the law, and the moral underpinnings of particular areas of law (e.g. criminal, tort, contract).
PHL374H5: Issues in Normative Ethics
Normative Ethics concerns general questions about what makes actions right or wrong. Topics include, among others, the plausibility of various ethical theories such as consequentialism, deontology, and virtue ethics, and questions about the moral significance of distinctions such as doing vs allowing and intending vs foreseeing.
PHL376H5: Issues in Metaethics
Metaethics concerns the place of values in the world, and the status of ethics as a field of inquiry. Topics may include: the objectivity of morality; moral psychology; the possibility of ethical knowledge; and meanings of ethical concepts.
PHL388H5: Philosophy of Literature
This course explores the relationship between literature and philosophy. In addition to examining the historical tension between poets and philosophers, students will study how selected literary works, classic and contemporary, and from Western and non-Western traditions, engage with philosophical questions and ideas. Topics may include love, the soul's journey, death and rebirth, and the conflict between good and evil. The course will also consider philosophical issues related to translation, adaptation, and interpretation.
PHL390H5: Special Topics in Philosophy
A course primarily for Specialists and Majors in Philosophy. Topic to vary from year to year. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
PHL400H5: Seminar in Ancient and Medieval Philosophy
Advanced discussion of principal figures and themes in ancient or medieval philosophy.
PHL410H5: Seminar in 17th and 18th Century Philosophy
Advanced discussion of philosophers and themes in the 17th and 18th century.
PHL420H5: Seminar in 19th and 20th Century Philosophy
Advanced discussion of principal figures and themes in 19th and 20th century philosophy.
PHL432H5: Seminar in Metaphysics
Advanced topics in metaphysics.
PHL433H5: Seminar in Epistemology
Advanced topics in epistemology.
PHL440H5: Seminar in the Philosophy of Mind
Advanced topics in Philosophy of Mind.
PHL445H5: Metalogic
A continuation of PHL345H5, this is a course in the mathematical study of logic, also known as meta-logic. We will investigate and prove theorems about logical systems. Topics covered will include: basic set theory and recursion theory, completeness, compactness, and the Loewenheim-Skolem theorems for first-order logic, and Gödel's incompleteness theorems.
PHL447H5: Seminar in Philosophy of Logic
Study of advanced topics in logic or the philosophy of logic.
PHL450H5: Seminar in Philosophy of Language
Study of advanced topics in philosophy of language.
PHL455H5: Seminar in Philosophy of Science
Study of advanced topics in the philosophy of science.
PHL475H5: Seminar in Moral and Political Philosophy
Advanced topics in moral, social, or political philosophy.
PHL489Y5: The Socrates Project
The Socrates Project (PHL489Y) is a full-year course with 3 components. First, you will serve as a TA for a section of PHL103H/PHL113H during the Fall and Winter terms. During the Fall semester, you will attend two 1-hour PHL103H/PHL113H lectures each week, and teach one tutorial of 20-25 students, meeting with them for 1 hour each week. You will grade their papers, hold office hours, and meet with the relevant professor as needed. You will be paid for approximately 100 hours of work each semester, for a total of 200 hours, at the current hourly wage for CUPE Unit 1. The second component of the course is a seminar that meets once per week for 3 hours each time, during the fall term. Most of the seminar will be devoted to more in-depth study of the topics taken up in the PHL103H/PHL113H; but you will also discuss the methods and challenges of teaching philosophy-grading papers, prompting and guiding discussion, and so forth. Third, during the winter term you will write a seminar paper, on a topic of your choosing, under the supervision of a UTM Philosophy faculty member working in the relevant area. You will also present your work orally at an undergraduate research conference held jointly with the Socrates students from the St. George campus. Admittance to the Socrates Project is by application only. Instructions and the application form are available on the web at: http://philosophy.utoronto.ca/employment/cupe-3902-unit-1
PHL495H5: Special Seminar: Philosophical Problems
A seminar for advanced students in Specialist and Major Programs in Philosophy. Topic to vary from year to year.
PHL496H5: Individual Studies
Contact Undergraduate Advisor. Individual study courses are aimed at highly motivated students. They are not intended to duplicate course offerings already available. A student seeking to do an independent course must secure a faculty supervisor. Regular meetings between student and supervisor are required, and the workload should be the same as a fourth-year philosophy seminar.
PHL497H5: Individual Studies
Contact Undergraduate Advisor. Individual study courses are aimed at highly motivated students. They are not intended to duplicate course offerings already available. A student seeking to do an independent course must secure a faculty supervisor. Regular meetings between student and supervisor are required, and the workload should be the same as a fourth-year philosophy seminar.
PHL498Y5: Individual Studies
Contact Undergraduate Advisor. Individual study courses are aimed at highly motivated students. They are not intended to duplicate course offerings already available. A student seeking to do an independent course must secure a faculty supervisor. Regular meetings between student and supervisor are required, and the workload should be the same as a fourth-year philosophy seminar.
PHL499H5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a rewarding opportunity for students in their fourth year to undertake relatively advanced work in the research project of a professor in return for PHL499H5 course credit. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and Fall/Winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
PHL499Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a rewarding opportunity for students in their fourth year to undertake relatively advanced work in the research project of a professor in return for PHL499Y5 course credit. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
PHY100H5: What's Physics Got to Do With It?
Stephen Hawking once said: "We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special." The magic of Physics, with its ambitious goals of pushing the boundaries of knowledge, from finding the "God particle" to predicting the fate of the Universe, will be the focus of this course. The course is intended for those who are not trained in Physics and Mathematics but who nevertheless want to gain insight into this interesting and important field in a non-intimidating way. We will discover important concepts and theories through applications to everyday phenomena, including new energy sources, laser surgery, flat-screen TVs, wireless communications, GPS, etc. More advanced, but nevertheless fascinating and popular topics, will also be covered: time travel, relativity, ultracold atoms, quantum entanglement, black holes and the Higgs boson. No previous background in Physics is expected; high school algebra is recommended.
PHY136H5: Physics for Life and Environmental Sciences I
A first-year Physics course for students who do not intend to pursue a Physics or an Astronomy program. This course is focused on providing students with conceptual understanding and problem solving skills through the study of physical phenomenon that include: Forces and Newton’s Laws of Motion; Rotational Dynamics; Simple Harmonic Motion and Waves. Examples relevant for life and environmental sciences are emphasized.
PHY137H5: Physics for Life and Environmental Sciences II
A second Physics course for students who do not intend to pursue a Physics or an Astronomy program. This course is focused on providing students with conceptual understanding and problem solving skills through the study of physical phenomenon that include: Electric Forces and Fields; Electric Circuits; Magnetic Forces and Field; Optics. Examples relevant for life and environmental sciences are emphasized.
PHY146H5: Principles of Physics I
Physics is the scientific study of the laws governing all forms of matter and energy, from sub-atomic particles to stars and galaxies. The goal of physics is to develop physical laws based upon the results of experimental inquiry, and usually expressed in the language of mathematics, to predict phenomena within our natural world. This first course in classical physics is intended for students pursuing any of the Physics or Astronomy programs, although it is highly recommended for anyone in the Sciences. Topics include Newton’s Laws of motion, conservation of energy and momentum, inertia, circular motion, simple harmonic motion, waves and vibrations, thermal motion, and more.
PHY147H5: Principles of Physics II
The second physics course for students intending to pursue any of the Physics or Astronomy programs and highly recommended for some of the other programs in the Department of Chemical and Physical Sciences. The concept of a field and its mathematical description in terms of vector calculus will be introduced as a way to provide a description of gravity and electromagnetism. The wave-particle duality will be introduced as way to address issues with the classical view of the behavior of sub-atomic phenomena.
PHY241H5: Electromagnetism
This course covers the static properties of electric and magnetic fields using the tools of vector calculus. Topics include electric fields, Gauss' law, electric potential, electric dipole, magnetic fields, Biot-Savart Law, Ampère’s Law, Faraday’s Law, culminating on Maxwell’s equations and electromagnetic waves. Solving Laplace’s equation with simple boundary conditions will accompany the discussion of electric potentials.
PHY245H5: Vibrations and Waves
The analysis of vibrating systems and wave motion, introducing mathematical techniques such as complex numbers, eigenvalue problems, and Fourier series. Topics include: simple and coupled oscillators; dispersion relations and boundary conditions; travelling waves; propagation of electromagnetic waves in materials; reflection and transmission of waves at interfaces.
PHY255H5: Introduction to Biomedical Physics
The course focuses on applying principles from introductory Physics to biomedical phenomena. The goal is to illustrate the application of physical principles in life sciences and how this enhances one's understanding of biology. Topics may vary but they will include: the elasticity of muscles, the flow of blood, the electrical signal propagation in nerve cells, the optical properties of the eye, and the sound generation in vocal cords. In addition, the physical basis of medical techniques such as ultrasound imaging, endoscopy, electrocardiography, magnetic resonance imaging, laser surgery, and radiation therapy will be treated quantitatively.
PHY299Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a rewarding opportunity for students in their second year to work in the research project of a professor in return for 299Y course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
PHY324H5: Advanced Physics Laboratory
A modular practical course that develops the experimental and computational skills necessary to get deeper insight in physical phenomena. Selected physics experiments and modeling that illustrate important principles of physics are applied: Experimental measurements and skills, data and uncertainty analysis, mathematical models, computational simulations and solutions.
PHY325H5: Mathematical and Computational Physics
The theory and application of mathematical methods for the physical sciences. Topics may include: vector calculus, linear algebra applied to coordinate transformations, probability distributions, systems of linear ordinary and partial differential equations and boundary value problems, Fourier analysis and orthogonal functions, the Heat and Wave equations in various coordinate systems, and the use of Legendre polynomials and Spherical Bessel functions. Computational methods and standard software tools will be used to solve complex physics problems.
PHY332H5: Molecular Biophysics
A physicist's perspective on the building blocks of the living world. Topics may vary but will include: levels of structural complexity in biomolecules, molecular thermodynamics, molecular forces, the stability of biological structures, and the interaction of radiation with molecules. A rigorous treatment of commonly used biophysical techniques, such as calorimetry, optical spectroscopy, light/X-ray/neutron scattering, and single-molecule methods, will be accompanied by research applications.
PHY333H5: Physics of the Cell
A biophysical description of the structural properties and biological processes of the cell. The course will focus on: membrane biophysics, osmosis and transport through membranes, cell division, differentiation and growth, cell motility and muscular movement, cellular communication, cellular signal transduction and control, nerve impulses, action potential, synaptic signal transmission, free energy transduction in biological systems and bioenergetics of the cell, photosynthesis and respiration, photobiophysics, photoreception, and bioluminescence.
PHY343H5: Classical Mechanics
A mathematical treatment of Newtonian mechanics. Topics include: variational principles, Lagrangian mechanics, Noether’s theorem, symmetry and conservation laws, applications (orbits, oscillators, scattering), introduction to Hamiltonian mechanics.
PHY347H5: Optics
The course will focus on wave optics and introduce students to modern optics and the quantum nature of light. Topics may vary but will include: electromagnetic waves and the propagation of light, basic coherence concepts and the interference of light, Fraunhofer and Fresnel diffraction, Fresnel equations, polarization of light, birefringence, blackbody radiation and principles of laser operation.
PHY351H5: Climate Physics
This course presents the physics of Earth’s climate. Emphasis will be placed on the basic principles and processes involved in physical and dynamic climatology and the physical interactions between the atmosphere, oceans, and land surface. Topics may include components of the climate system and global energy balance, atmospheric radiative transfer, surface energy balance, the hydrological cycle, general circulation of the atmosphere, ocean circulation and climate, climate modeling, and climate change. In the lab practicals, students will gain hands-on experience in analyzing climate data and simple climate modeling.
PHY399Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides third-year undergraduate students (after completion of at least 8 to 10 credits) who have developed some knowledge of Physics and its research methods, an opportunity to work in the research project of a professor in return for course credit. Students enrolled have the opportunity to become involved in original research, enhance their research skills and share in the excitement of acquiring new knowledge and in the discovery process of science. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
PHY421H5: Quantum Mechanics II
The course offers an in-depth examination of the fundamental principles of quantum theory and a guide to its applications. Topics may vary but will include: time-independent Schrodinger equation, quantum dynamics in Heisenberg and Schrodinger pictures, time-independent perturbation theory, WKB approximation, variational method, spin, addition of angular momentum, time-dependent perturbation theory, scattering.
PHY426H5: Computational Modeling in Physics
In this advanced course in computational modeling and physical simulation, students will apply numerical techniques to study a range of physical phenomena. Topics may include: chaotic and nonlinear systems, mean-field and Monte Carlo methods, variational and spectral methods, stochastic processes, molecular dynamics simulations, protein folding, self-organized criticality, neural networks, clustering and percolation, and so on.
PHY433H5: Medical Physics
An introduction to key physical principles applied to medical diagnostics, imaging and radiation therapy. Topics include: electrophysiology, electrocardiogram and encephalogram; biomagnetism, magnetocardiogram and magnetoencephalogram; atomic and nuclear physics, ionizing radiation, radioactivity, nuclear medicine; theory of image formation and analysis, X- and gamma-ray imaging, positron emission tomography; lasers, optical light-matter interactions, optical imaging and therapy; physics of ultrasound, Doppler scanning and imaging with ultrasound; principles of nuclear magnetic resonance, contrast in magnetic resonance imaging.
PHY451H5: Classical Electrodynamics
An overview of electromagnetism leading to the study of radiation. A review of electrostatics, magnetostatics, and Maxwell's equations is followed by a discussion of propagating, non-propagating and guided waves; interactions with dielectric boundaries; multipole radiation fields, and simple models of optical dispersion.
PHY473H5: Supervised Readings
A program of individual study chosen by the student with the advice of, and carried out under the direction of, a Physics professor. This course requires the student to submit a completed application to the CPS Undergraduate Assistant. Registration in the course is required. The application form can be downloaded from http://uoft.me/cpsforms.
POL111H5: Canada in Comparative Perspective
Examines major facets of Canadian government and politics within a broad comparative context asking what is different or unique about Canada and what resembles political systems elsewhere in the world, primarily western industrialized countries. Comparative analysis is used to foster a deeper understanding of Canada and its politics.
POL112H5: Democracy in Theory and Practice
Examines current ideas about what constitutes 'democracy' and how real-world political systems measure up to democratic ideals. Through examination of formal government institutions and informal political practices, assessments will be made of the strengths and weaknesses in modern democracies. Case studies may be drawn from Canada or from other countries which claim to be democratic.
POL113H5: Ideas and Ideologies
In this course students are introduced to basic concepts in politics such as authority, sovereignty, legitimacy, citizenship, jurisdiction, civil rights and civil liberties. These concepts are then used to examine the fundamental differences between major political ideologies, such as democracy, liberalism, socialism, fascism, conservatism, anarchism and communism.
POL114H5: Politics in a Global World
Examines the politics of globalization in its various forms (economics, cultures, environmental and military) as well as the consequences of, management of and resistance to, globalization. Address topics such as whether globalization challenges the capacity of national societies and their governments to deal with global issues such as the environment, redistribution of wealth, security and human rights, both within countries and across borders.
POL115H5: Evidence and Argument in the Study of Politics
To understand politics in our information-abundant world, we need ways to make sense of the political information that surrounds us. In this course, we ask what makes for good evidence and what makes for convincing argument. We do so by raising a series of weekly topics on which there is a mass of available information - topics like climate change, political correctness, populism, and democracy promotion, among others - and discussing fundamentally different perspectives on each topic. In the end, students will develop a fuller sense of what constitutes a well-argued and evidence-supported analysis of the political.
POL116H5: Politics & Social Justice
In this course students are introduced to the concept of social justice as a political issue. The course is designed to develop modes of analysis that focus on human rights, economic and social (in)equity, fairness and inclusion. Key concepts may include power, identity, conflict, community, consent, advocacy, inequality, solitary, structural racism, and intersectionality. Specific issues to be considered may include gender equality, racism, justice between generations, spatial inclusion, wealth distribution, and equity in the international realm. The substantive themes and perspective may vary from year to year.
POL200Y5: Justice and Power in Political Life
Studies the themes of power and justice in the history of political thought, from the ancient world until the 1700s. Readings may include work from Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, and Locke.
POL203H5: Politics and Government of the United States
A comparative study of the development of American government and the main elements of the American political tradition; the structure and functioning of executives, legislatures, courts, bureaucracies, parties and pressure groups in federal and state government; characteristic processes of American politics such as voting, bargaining and regulation; and resultant patterns of public policy.
POL209H5: Introduction to International Relations
This course provides a general overview of the study of international relations. It builds a theoretical, conceptual, and empirical foundation for understanding the actors, processes, and structures that shape and constrain global politics.
POL210H5: Contemporary Challenges in International Relations
This course explores contemporary challenges in the study of international relations. Building off of theoretical foundations, it provides an analytic exploration of key puzzles and topical issues that currently confront international relations scholarship.
POL215H5: Canadian Government
This course will focus on Canadian Institutions, the Constitution, Federalism, the Courts, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, etc. This course will contribute to the students' understanding of their immediate political surroundings. This course will enhance the students' ability to engage and participate in the democratic system by teaching them about the foundations of the Canadian system of government.
POL216H5: Canadian Politics
This course will focus on political parties, elections, gender, cleavages, etc. This course will enhance the knowledge of the Canadian system of politics to give students better skills and objectives.
POL218H5: Introduction to Comparative Politics: Institutions
Comparative politics compares the ways people and institutions interact, in different countries and regions of the world (including both developing and developed), to produce what we call "politics." This course focuses on political institutions. Topics include: the formation, development and eventual decay of political institutions such as the nation-state, political regimes, parties, party systems and local governments; the power of the state; the emergence and dynamics of democratic and authoritarian institutions; the emergence and dynamics of capitalist institutions.
POL219H5: Introduction to Comparative Politics: Processes and Identities
Comparative politics compares the ways people and institutions interact, in different countries and regions of the world (including both developing and developed), to produce what we call "politics." This course focuses on political processes and identities. Topics include: the ideas and interests shaping political behaviour; the causes of and dynamics of political mobilization, social mobilization, and revolution; the relationship between identity categories such as ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class and political processes.
POL243H5: Research Methods for Political Science I
This course offers an introduction into scientific inquiry and research in the field of politics. It explores a wide range of quantitative and qualitative methods with the aim of providing basic literacy and comprehension of methods important in encountering -and eventually, conducting – research in political science.
POL244H5: Research Methods for Political Science II
In this course, students learn to conduct political analysis using methods common in the social sciences. This includes data such as surveys, international or social media datasets, and methods such as crosstabs and regression. Rather than stressing mathematical concepts, the emphasis of the course is on application, interpretation, and data visualization.
POL300H5: Topics in Comparative Politics
Topics will vary from term to term. Consult the UTM Timetable.
POL301H5: Topics in Political Theory
Content of course will vary from year to year. Consult the UTM Timetable.
POL302H5: Topics in Comparative Politics
Topics will vary from term to term. Consult the UTM Timetable.
POL303H5: The Politics of Islam
The course examines the theory and practice of Islamic politics in the modern era. It also looks at Western foreign policy and Western cultural reactions to politics in the Muslim world. The aim is to acquaint students with the diversity within the Muslim world and help them better understand some of the most pressing political issues raised by contemporary Islam.
POL304H5: Politics of South Asia
This course surveys systems of government and political processes across South Asia, with attention to state formation, nationalism, ethnicity, democracy vs. authoritarian forms of governance, social movements, political violence, insurgencies, political economy, corruption, and other important issues affection South Asian states currently. The focus will be mostly on India and Pakistan and possibly some of the other countries in South Asia.
POL305H5: Topics in International Relations
Content of course will vary year to year. Consult with the UTM Timetable.
POL307H5: Topics in International Relations
Topics will vary from term to term. Consult the UTM Timetable.
POL309Y5: The State, Planning and Markets
A study of the political economy of planning and markets, the history of both forms of organization, the political philosophies of liberalism and Marxism upon which they have been based, and the issues of economic efficiency, justice and democratic control in capitalism and socialism.
POL311H5: Military Power
This course explores the foundations, application, and limits of military power in the international system. It examines theories about the use of force, military effectiveness, and the relationships between military power, politics, and technology.
POL312H5: Managing Military Conflict
Analysis of different aspects of conflict management, including security regimes, U.N. peacekeeping, mediation, bilateral as well as multilateral techniques.
POL313H5: European Politics I
This course introduces students to the political foundations of democratic government and capitalism in Western Europe. The course covers the historical origins of the modern nation state in Europe and the region’s bumpy road to democracy and prosperity. It also focuses on key similarities and differences in the political institutions, political development, and economic and social models of major European countries.
POL314H5: European Politics II
This course explores the functions (and dysfunctions) of the European Union, a regional organization shaping the political life of its 27 European member states. The course also covers contemporary challenges to democracy and prosperity in Europe, such as populism, economic crises, Brexit, and geopolitical conflicts.
POL317H5: Comparative Public Policy and Administration
Major theories and concepts in the fields of public administration and public policy, drawing on the experience of advanced industrialized nations.
POL318H5: Power and Conflict in Federalism
This course looks at how Canadian federalism has evolved and adapted to policy-making challenges, including urbanization, regionalism, and demographic changes among the Canadian population. In additional to the Constitution and the role of federal and provincial governments, we also examine the involvement of municipalities, First nations, and non-governmental actors including private and third sector groups.
POL320Y5: Modernity and Resistance
This course covers the history of political thought in the 18th and 19th centuries.
POL322H5: The Idea of Human Rights
We sometimes make claims about “human rights,” but why? This course will cultivate an understanding of the origins and development of the human rights idea over time. Why do states engage in political violence, and how did the language of human rights emerge in response to that violence? Where did the concept of human rights originate, and how did it get written into law? Are human rights truly universal? After confronting these questions, the course will shift to theories of how the global human rights regime is meant to operate. For example, how might it work to shame, sanction, or used armed intervention to advance the cause of human rights?
POL323H5: The Practice of Human Rights
This course operates like a human rights clinic, considering concrete examples of human rights in practice. Through case studies of countries like Guatemala, Libya, Bosnia, Uganda, and Indonesia, we will consider the following questions: What is the current state of the human rights movement today? What role does human rights law and social activism play in changing practices? And what are the most effective and ineffective human rights interventions? Students will analyze current trends, like the pursuit of criminal accountability for atrocity criminals, and they will propose how to prevent backlash against human rights defenders around the world.
POL327H5: Comparative Foreign Policy
Comparative study of the foreign policies of Russia/USSR, the United States, Great Britain, France and Germany.
POL340Y5: International Law
International law as an instrument of conflict resolution. Recognition, sovereign immunity, subjects of international law, and jurisdiction are some of the subjects examined.
POL342H5: Data Visualization and Analysis for the Social Sciences
A practical introduction to visualizing and analyzing data about people, societies, and governments. Students will learn to interpret data to describe and explain the world.
POL343H5: Qualitative Methods
This course focuses on the research process with attention to writing research proposals and qualitative research methods.
POL344H5: Concepts, Actors, & Challenges in Global Governance
An introduction to the study of Global Governance. It presents Global Governance both as an area of study within International Relations theory, and as a set of norms and procedures that guide ongoing practices within international politics. The course will take students through the early development of the concept in the 1990s to present times. It will also cover key challenges to Global Governance.
POL345H5: Global Governance in Practice
This course builds on earlier conceptual discussions in POL344H5, to illustrate how Global Governance is practiced within specific empirical contexts. Students will take a deep dive into pressing examples of Global Governance practices and challenges (e.g., the United Nations, the World Health Organization, the global political economy).
POL346H5: Urban Politics I
This course examines urban politics and policy, with a focus on structures of governance. Students will be introduced to key concepts in urban politics scholarship, including electoral politics, finance, participation, and the built environment. Examples are taken from the Greater Toronto Area, as well as cities across Canada and North America.
POL347H5: Urban Politics II
This course examines urban politics and policy problems such as inequality, sustainability, immigration, and regionalism. Readings and other course content will focus on contemporary cases of urban policy challenges and conflict in cities and urban regions.
POL354H5: Russian Politics
After covering crucial background on tsarist Russia and the Soviet system, the course considers the legacies of Soviet rule. We then address questions of identity politics in Russia, the country’s changing political economy, the shape of authoritarian institutions, the dynamics of protest and repression, how the authoritarian regime in Russia manages flows of information, and the nature of colonialism in the Russian context.
POL355H5: Multiculturalism and Citizenship
How are laws, policies, and social norms affected by the overwhelmingly multicultural character of contemporary societies? This course examines how the realities of contemporary multiculturalism have reshaped civic life, both in Canada and in other societies. The course will attempt to cover both empirical and theoretical-normative approaches to these issues.
POL360H5: State, Nation and Regime Change in Latin America
This course offers a comparative and transnational analytical approach to the historical foundations of nation and state building as well as patterns of regime change in Latin America. Specific topics may include revolutions, populism, (neo)colonialism, “racial democracy,” Indigenismo, dependency, among others.
POL361H5: Democracy and its interruptions in Latin America
This course surveys a range of important issues in contemporary Latin America with a focus on the promises and failures of democracy under neoliberalism and post-neoliberalism. Specific topics may include Indigenous politics, Black politics, feminist politics, class conflict, “iron fist” regimes, the War on Drugs, among others.
POL362H5: Borders, Migrants and Refugees
This course exposes students to the tensions between the mobility of people across international borders, and the hardening regimes of governance facing migrants. The course pays special attention to the intersections of class, race and gender at stake in the politics of migration.
POL367H5: Feminist Political Theory
This course examines the various interventions that have marked the development of feminist political thought from the mid-20th century onward. These include efforts to complicate the category 'woman', to understand gender in its intersections with race and class, to develop queer feminist accounts of ‘sex’ and ‘sexuality’, and to investigate the meaning of 'feminism' as a political project in and of itself.
POL368H5: Gender and Politics
An introduction to gender and politics that examines women as political actors and their activities in formal and grassroots politics.
POL370H5: Resource Politics in Postcolonial Africa
This course identifies natural resource exploitation as a prominent focus in discourses and policies concerned with African countries in the post-independence era (~1960s onwards), particularly when dealing with issues of conflict, democratization, economic development, poverty and regime crisis.
POL371H5: Media and Democracy
This course examines the contemporary relationship between politics and media.
POL372H5: Propaganda and Strategic Political Communication
This course explores how political actors such as political parties, pressure groups and governments use media to secure their political objectives.
POL373H5: Politics of the Middle East and North Africa
Students will examine the political dynamics of selected states in the Middle East and North Africa. Issues to be covered include: state-building; Arab nationalism; Zionism; Islamism; tribalism; gender; the politics of oil. Specific themes relevant to contemporary politics will vary from year to year.
POL390H5: Topics in Comparative Politics
Content of course will vary from year to year. Consult the UTM Timetable.
POL391H5: Topics in Comparative Politics
Content of course will vary from year to year. Consult with the Political Science Handbook.
POL392H5: Topics in Political Theory
Content of course will vary from year to year. Consult the UTM Timetable.
POL393H5: Topics in Canadian Politics
Content of course will vary from year to year. Consult the UTM Timetable.
POL394H5: Topics in Political Science
Content of course will vary from year to year. Consult the UTM Timetable.
POL399H5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their third year to work in the research project of a professor in return for POL399H course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. SeeExperiential and International Opportunities for more details.
POL399Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their third year to work in the research project of a professor in return for POL399Y course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
POL401Y5: Senior Major Research Paper
This course provides students with the basic skills and knowledge necessary to complete a major independent research paper. The course will have a broad theme (power, equality, justice, federalism, etc.) and students will pursue a research project of their own interest that relates to the course theme. This Y course will meet weekly in the first semester and every other week in the winter semester. Under the course instructors’ supervision, students will identify potential research questions, acquire methodological and research skills appropriate for addressing the research questions, and conduct primary research. Students will present their paper in an open forum late in the second term. This course is intended for students with a strong academic background who intend to pursue graduate studies.
POL402H5: Topics in Political Science
Content of course will vary from year to year. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. Consult the UTM Timetable.
POL403H5: Topics in Political Science
Content of course will vary from year to year. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total.Consult the UTM Timetable.
POL404H5: Political Theory for the Present
Covers 20th- and 21st-century political theory. Topics will vary by faculty offering the course and may include but are not limited to topics in feminist political theory, post-colonial and de-colonial political theory, and political economy.
POL405Y5: Political Science Internship
Through a part-time, unpaid internship (150 hours), students apply the knowledge and skills gained through previous coursework in political science. Participants will develop skill sets through a professional setting combined with class meetings that include workshops, writing, oral presentations, reading and reflection. Placements are made in both the public and private sectors, such as local or regional government offices, law firms, civil society organizations or non-profit agencies.
Normally, the 150 hours will be completed by attending the work placement one full day each week from September to April. Students must confirm internship arrangements well in advance and secure departmental approval for their internship position prior to the start of term. Students will be admitted to through an online application.
POL406H5: Insurgents, Criminals, and Warlords
This course provides a theoretical and empirical overview of the role played by violent non-state actors in international politics. Examining insurgents, criminals, and warlords, the course explores why these actors resort to violence, the strategies and tactics they employ, and the connections that link them together.
POL407H5: The Politics of Oil & Mining Extraction: Contracts, Conflict, Consent
What can we learn about global politics from an oil or a mining contract? Who are the main actors in such contracts? What are key differences between oil and mining contracts? What is the future of oil and mining contracts? This course addresses these questions, by examining the complex politics of oil and mining contracts. Key theoretical concepts and themes explored in this course are sovereignty, ownership, resistance, and the future of resource extraction.
POL414H5: The Future of Work
This course is a critical study of the meaning and value of work in social and political life. Sources include both historical and contemporary political theories of work and labour.
POL438H5: Topics in Comparative Politics
Content of course will vary from year to year. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. Consult the UTM Timetable.
POL440H5: The Politics of Transition in Eastern Europe I: Attempts to Impose a Marxist-Leninist Revolution
The political order, largely imposed or supported by the Soviet Union in the wake of World War II, throughout Eastern Europe, promised positive revolutionary change in all political, economic and social interactions, and indeed in restructuring peoples' psychology. By 1989 it was evident that the revolution and its promises had not materialized and the dissatisfaction and disillusionment of the populations in the region led to regime implosions in a domino-like fashion in state after state, setting the stage for a new fundamental transformation.
POL441H5: The Politics of Transition in Eastern Europe II: The Struggle for Democracy
The struggle for democracy in an expanded new Eastern Europe, especially after the collapse of the Soviet Union itself, created great opportunities for the fundamental transformation of the political, economic and social order, but it also has been painful and unpredictable. There have been impressive successes but also problems of break-ups and integration and occasionally, retrenchment. At the same time the region has also been a laboratory for fundamental transition.
POL444H5: Protest and Revolution in the Middle East and North Africa
Looking at uprisings and protests in the Middle East and North Africa, students will examine different theories of contentious politics to better understand why and how uprisings happen in the region. The course will focus on the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings/revolutions in addition to recent uprisings in countries that did not experience the Arab Spring.
POL445H5: The Politics of Queer and Trans Migrations
This course offers a critical perspective about migration studies by centering the experiences of queer and trans migrants, and by adopting a feminist, queer and trans theory lens. Sources foreground intersections of gender, sexuality, race, class and nation.
POL446H5: Politics of the South Asian Diaspora in Comparative Perspective
This course examines the politics of South Asian diasporas in Canada, scaled at local, provincial, and national levels. Major themes include democratic representation, multiculturalism, social mobilization, and dilemmas of cultural autonomy. Other diasporic groups globally - both South Asian and otherwise - are examined for the purpose of comparison.
POL447H5: Collective Action and Political Change
This course introduces students to the study of collective action, the conditions under which it is possible, and its role in bringing about political change. It addresses foundational concepts and theories, as well as cases of collective action with a focus on the experiences of subaltern groups in the Americas and beyond.
POL448H5: Protest and Social Movements in Comparative and Transnational Perspective
This course focuses on key threads of subaltern collective action in comparative and transnational perspective, with a focus on Latin America. It delves into revolutionary, feminist, solidarity, decolonial, anti-racist, body-centered, anti-extractivist struggles, among others, from the late 20th Century to the present day.
POL475H5: Global Environmental and Sustainability Politics
This course examines the challenges faced by humanity in dealing with global environmental and sustainability problems and the politics of addressing them. Focuses on both the underlying factors that shape the politics of these problems - such as scientific uncertainty, North-South conflict, equity concerns, globalization and production and consumption patterns - and explores attempts at the governance of specific global or transnational environmental and sustainability issues by state and non-state actors.
POL476H5: Moral Reason and Economic History I
A study of the interaction between political philosophy and economic history. The course involves alternative conceptions of the relation between individuals and the community, between the economy and the political order, between what 'is' and what 'ought to be.'
POL477H5: Moral Reason and Economic History II
A study of the interaction between political philosophy and economic history. The course involves alternative conceptions of the relation between individuals and the community, between the economy and the political order, between what 'is' and what 'ought to be.'
POL483H5: Comparative Political Theory
This course introduces students to comparative political thought, a field of study in political theory that de-centres "Western" perspectives in favour of a more global, comparative approach to studying political questions, problems and concepts. Course materials might include political texts from East Asia, South Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East, read alongside texts from "the West."
POL484H5: Topics in Political Thought
Topics will vary from term to term. Consult the UTM Timetable.
POL485H5: Topics in Political Thought
Content of course will vary from year to year. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. Consult the UTM Timetable.
POL486H5: Topics in International Relations
Content of course will vary from year to year. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. Consult the UTM Timetable.
POL487H5: Topics in International Relations
Content of course will vary from year to year. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. Consult the UTM Timetable.
POL490H5: Topics in Canadian Politics
Content of course will vary from year to year. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. Consult the UTM Timetable.
POL493H5: Social Risk and Social Protection
This class is a study of the welfare state. We will study old and new social risks, such as poverty, homelessness, and unemployment, and consider the types of social protections that are offered against those risks. The class will cover broad theories of the welfare state and social policy, and will also consider specific areas of policy and what governments and non-governmental groups are doing to protect against old and new risks.
POL494H5: Topics in Canadian Politics
Content of course will vary from year to year. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. Consult the UTM Timetable.
POL495Y5: Undergraduate Reading Course
This is a student-initiated course of reading and research on a specialized topic of interest to the student. It is normally only open to students enrolled in Political Science Specialist and Major programs. Students wishing to enrol must find a faculty member willing to supervise the course, develop a program of study in consultation with the supervisor and obtain written approval for the course from the chair.
POL496H5: Undergraduate Reading Course
This is a student-initiated course of reading and research on a specialized topic of interest to the student. It is normally only open to students enrolled in Political Science Specialist and Major programs. Students wishing to enrol must find a faculty member willing to supervise the course, develop a program of study in consultation with the supervisor and obtain written approval for the course from the chair.
POL499H5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their third year to work in the research project of a professor in return for POL499H5 course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
POL499Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their third year to work in the research project of a professor in return for POL499Y5 course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
PRS210H5: Introductory Persian I
This course is for students who have minimal or no prior knowledge of Persian. The course provides students with basic information about the Persian language with the special focus on literacy skills, i.e. reading and writing. Students start by learning how to write and pronounce the alphabet and how to connect letters to form new words. Then, they learn basic vocabulary in Persian in order to express basic ideas orally and in writing. By the end of the course, students should be able to write simple sentences to express basic information, and they should be able to conduct basic conversations in Persian.
PRS211H5: Introductory Persian II
This course is for students who passed PRS210H or demonstrate commensurate Persian skills. As a continuation of introductory Persian I, this course continues to develop students' language comprehension, expand their vocabulary and grammar, and improve their skills in listening, speaking, reading, writing, and translation at an intermediate low level.
PRS310H5: Intermediate Persian I
This course is for students who passed PRS211H or demonstrate commensurate Persian skills. As a continuation of introductory Persian II, this course continues to develop students’ language comprehension, expand their vocabulary and grammar, and improve their skills in listening, speaking, reading, writing, and translation at an intermediate high level.
PRS311H5: Intermediate Persian II
This course is for students who passed PRS310H5 or demonstrate commensurate Persian skills. As a continuation of intermediate Persian I, this course continues to develop students’ language comprehension, expand their vocabulary and grammar, and improve their skills in listening, speaking, reading, writing, and translation at an advance level.
PSY100Y5: Introductory Psychology
PSY201H5: Introduction to Quantitative Research in Psychology I
In this course, you will develop a conceptual understanding of statistics that will improve your data-driven decision-making processes and critical assessment of research findings. Using statistical programming, you will learn practical skills that will help you visualize data, draw insights from graphs, describe data to others, and test predictions using statistics.
PSY202H5: Introduction to Quantitative Research in Psychology II
This course builds on the foundation of PSY201H5 to explore a variety of statistical procedures used in psychology research, understand the factors that maximize the validity of research findings, and to develop effective strategies to communicate research findings.
PSY210H5: Introduction to Developmental Psychology
How do children learn to interact with the world around them; to communicate, solve problems, establish moral principles, form meaningful relationships, and develop a sense of self? In this course, you will take an interdisciplinary approach to understanding how a child’s mind and brain develop through exploration of cognitive, biological, social, and cultural factors. At the end of this course, you will have developed an understanding of the theoretical, experimental, ethical, and psychological foundations of developmental psychology.
PSY220H5: Introduction to Social Psychology
A survey of classic and contemporary research in social psychology. Topics include the self, social cognition, attitudes, social influence, relationships, emotions, culture, stereotyping, altruism and aggression.
PSY230H5: Introduction to Personality Science
Personality science examines human diversity in behaviours, thoughts, and emotions. A primary learning objective is for students to think scientifically about human diversity in personality traits. The course focuses primarily on empirical results that have accumulated since the 1970s. Students learn about the measurement of personality, biological and social causes of human diversity, and the influence of personality on major life outcomes. The course focuses on variation in personality that is normal, although the relationship between personality and health – both physical and mental – is examined.
PSY240H5: Introduction to Abnormal Psychology
A survey of contemporary issues in theory and research on abnormal behaviour and its treatment. Topics include the definition of abnormal behaviour, causes and treatment of disorders, diagnosis and assessment, incidence and prevalence, biological and psychological interventions, prevention, as well as legal and ethical issues.
PSY270H5: Cognition: The Machinery of the Mind
In your everyday life, you are constantly bombarded with information from the external world. How does your mind select important information, remember it, and use it to govern your behaviour? Cognition is the study of the mechanisms involved in the processing of information. In this course, you will learn how your mind allows you to pay attention, create mental representations, remember information, manipulate knowledge, and express thoughts.
PSY280H5: Sensation and Perception: Where the World Meets the Brain
What you see, hear, taste, and smell is not only a product of sensory stimulation, but also your brain's attempt to make sense of that information. Perception is the gateway between the external world and your internal representation of what is going on around you. In this course, you will be introduced to current empirical research in perceptual science. You will develop a greater awareness of the biological underpinnings of how you perceive the world and how your brain actively interprets information from the environment.
PSY290H5: Introduction to Neuroscience
The human brain is made up of billions of cells and trillions of connections that give rise to our ability to perceive, act, think, and learn. Neuroscience, the scientific exploration of the brain, is beginning to unravel how this amazing structure works. In this course, you will learn the fundamental anatomical organization and physiological properties of the brain. You will develop a greater understanding of the structures of the brain, how neurons communicate, and the processes that give rise to perception, learning, and memory.
PSY299H5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their second year to participate in the research project of a professor in return for 299H course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
PSY299Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their second year to participate in the research project of a faculty member in return for 299Y course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
PSY309H5: Experimental Design and Theory
You will learn how to interpret and critically evaluate psychological research, including the strengths and limitations of different research designs. You will learn to propose new research, including literature review, hypothesis formulation, anticipated results, and pre-specified analysis planning. Finally, you will also practice presenting your work in a virtual conference setting.
PSY310H5: Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood
A survey of research findings and theories concerning the physical, cognitive, personality, and social growth of adolescents and emerging adults. Topics include pubertal development, changes in parent/adolescent relationships, role of peers, identity development, high-risk behaviours, and development through transitional periods.
PSY311H5: Social Development
A survey of contemporary research and theory in social development during infancy and childhood with consideration of the cultural context of development. Topics include interactional development, attachment, understanding self and others, sex role development, parenting and socialization, and outcome of development.
PSY312H5: Children's Thinking: Cognitive Development in a Social World
This course seeks to answer two questions about the development of children's thinking: (1) What develops? (2) How does this development occur? Students will develop an understanding of theory and research in cognitive development across a range of topics including perception, social cognition, language, conceptual development, and problem solving.
PSY313H5: Adult Development and Aging
An introduction to current research in human development from young adulthood through old age. Adult development will be examined in terms of the interplay of biological, socio-cultural, and psychological determinants, with special emphasis on psychological factors. Topics include the demographics of aging, research methods and problems, developmental changes in sensory-perceptual systems, memory, intelligence, personality, as well as issues related to mental health, dying and bereavement.
PSY314H5: Educational Psychology: The Science of Learning
In this class we will review key findings from cognitive development, cognitive psychology, and educational psychology that have implications for the development of learning experience inside and outside the classroom.
PSY316H5: Infant Perception and Cognition
This course focuses primarily on human perceptual and cognitive development during the first 2 years of life. A heavy emphasis is placed on experimental work with normally developing infants. Topics include but are not limited to face recognition, colour and depth perception, auditory localization, object categorization, speech and language processing, learning and memory, intelligence and social influences on development.
PSY317H5: Gender and Sexual Development
Gender and sexuality influence how we think about ourselves and relate to others. This course explores the development of these aspects with emphasis on cognitive, social and cultural processes. Topics include gender stereotypes and the emergence of gender differences, gender and education, gender bias, gender identity, sexual development in children and youth, and sexual partner preferences.
PSY318H5: Developmental Neuropsychology
A survey of brain development, its relation to normal cognitive and behavioural development, the effects of early brain damage on development, and specific neurological disorders of childhood.
PSY319H5: Developmental Psychology Laboratory
In this course, students will learn how to develop and design experiments to answer scientific questions of their interest in the study of Developmental Psychology. Students will learn research methods revelant to research with infants and children, and apply these advanced methods. Students will also learn to code and analyze real data using advanced computational and statistical software.
PSY320H5: Social Psychology: Attitudes
Attitudes are persistent evaluations (preferences, likes and dislikes). This course examines the measurement of attitudes, the formation of attitudes to new objects, and the change of existing attitudes. General principles are illustrated with examples from various domains, such as propaganda and advertising, stereotyping and prejudice, attitudes towards health behaviours, and self-evaluations (self-esteem, life-satisfaction).
PSY321H5: Cross-cultural Psychology
Culture influences our daily experience and has far-reaching implications for psychological development. This course explores the origins of culture as well as human cultural universals and cultural diversity through consideration of multiculturalism and the various ways culture influences people’s self-concepts, perceptual and cognitive processes, social and emotional lives, concepts of morality, and health.
PSY324H5: The Science of Wellbeing
What makes people happy? Does money buy happiness or do unhappy people not know where to shop? Are people in California happier than people in Ontario? Does marriage make men happier and women unhappier? This course reviews the scientific evidence regarding these and other questions about the determinants of happiness from an interdisciplinary perspective (psychology, economics, sociology, philosophy, & biology) that ranges from molecular genetics to cross-national comparisons.
PSY325H5: Psychology of the Self
An examination of theory and research on the self from the perspectives of personality, developmental, and social psychology. Examples of topics associated with self development that will be covered are relationships, motivations, psychological stages, individual differences, cognition, culture, autobiographical memory, and narrative perspectives on the self.
PSY327H5: Psychology of Intimate Relationships
The objective of this course is to review what relationship science can tell us about close relationships, with a particular focus on romantic relationships. We will explore questions such as: Why do we want to be in relationships, what informs our choice of relationship partners, what predicts satisfaction and stability in relationships, and what is the role of sexuality in relationships? These and other questions will be examined from a variety of theoretical perspectives and will be applied to better understand real-world relationship functioning. General topics include theory and methods of relationships, attraction, social cognition, interdependence, attachment, sexuality, culture and gender, jealousy, and thriving relationships.
PSY328H5: Psychology and the Law
An examination of relevant research and contemporary methodologies examining phenomena encountered in the justice system. Topics include jury decision-making, violence and risk assessment, eye-witness evidence, insanity, psychopathy and anti-social personality disorder, sentencing, treatment of special offender groups, and criminal profiling. Students will learn how to apply the scientific method to examine behaviours that occur in a legal context.
PSY329H5: Social/Personality Laboratory
Readings, laboratory exercises, and research projects designed to familiarize students with methodologies relevant to empirical research in social/personality psychology.
PSY330H5: Psychometrics: Basics of Measurement in Social and Personality Psychology
In psychology, we often talk about people in relation to concepts like attachment, happiness, and need to belong. But, how do we actually measure these psychological constructs when we cannot see and touch them? Importantly, how can we be sure that research findings are based on good measurement practices and therefore seen as trustworthy? This course explores basic issues of psychometrics – the measurement of psychological constructs -- in social and personality psychology. We will read scholarly literature on psychometrics, discuss good practices for conceptualizing and assessing psychological constructs, and learn about how we can provide evidence for the validity and reliability of people’s responses to measures. We will practice using analytic techniques that examine measurement properties. The student should leave the course with a practical “measurement toolbox” which will allow them to conduct their own psychometric analyses, and better evaluate measurement practices used in social and personality psychology.
PSY331H5: Psychology of Emotion
In this course you will develop an in-depth understanding of the role of emotions in human psychology. You will learn theories of emotion, emotional regulation, expression and experience, the role of emotion in decision-making, and the relationship between emotion, cognition and behaviour.
PSY333H5: Health Psychology
Examines research evidence concerning the impact of psychological factors on physical health and illness.
PSY340H5: Abnormal Psychology: Adult Disorders
This advanced course provides an in-depth examination of current theory and research related to the origin, diagnosis, classification and treatment of adulthood psychological disorders. Readings and discussion will provide a biopsychosocial framework from which to explore contemporary explanations of psychopathology. Students will investigate how culture, societal norms, and environmental factors may shape what is considered to be abnormal adult behaviour.
PSY341H5: Abnormal Psychology: Disorders of Children and Adolescents
Considers concepts of normal, abnormal and delayed development. Schemes of classification and diagnosis, approaches to identification of causes, antecedents, and consequences, as well as contemporary treatment methods are critically evaluated. In addition, resilience in the face of adversity will be addressed, since risk and traumatic events often do not lead to disorders. The emphasis is on rigorous research as a primary source of knowledge about psychological disorders and empirically supported treatment.
PSY343H5: Theories of Psychotherapy
Considers the theories and techniques of the major classic and contemporary approaches to psychological treatment (psychotherapy) for personality and behavioural disorders, research supporting and/or growing out of the theories, and critical examination of these theories.
PSY344H5: Forensic Psychology
An exploration of the role of psychology in forensic science (the application of scientific inquiry into criminal investigation). Topics, which will vary from year to year, could include the assessment of criminal responsibility, competency issues, psychiatric disorders associated with crime, criminal profiling, behavioural analysis of a crime scene, prediction of dangerousness, workplace and family violence, sexual assault/abuse/rape, recovered memories, detection of malingering and deception, deindividuation and bystander intervention, social psychology of the jury, use of psychological tests in legal cases, witness preparation/interrogation, and the psychologist as expert witness.
PSY345H5: Exceptionality: Disability and Giftedness
A survey of contemporary theory and research related to exceptionality with a special emphasis on disability and educational issues. Topics include controversial psychosocial issues, legal, family, and multicultural issues, disability across the lifespan, communication disorders, hearing and visual impairment, autism, and acquired brain injury.
PSY346H5: Abnormal Psychology: Neuroscience Perspectives
An examination of contemporary theory and research related to the origin, prevention, and treatment of psychological disorders from a biological perspective. The course will focus on the role of behaviour genetics, structures in the brain, and biochemistry in the nervous system in specific disorders (e.g., schizophrenia, mood and anxiety disorders, aggression, premenstrual syndrome, sleep disorders) and will discuss alternative approaches to their treatment (e.g., psychopharmacologic versus behaviourally-oriented therapies).
PSY351H5: Evolutionary Psychology
Application of the theory of biological evolution to understanding the origins and structure of the human mind.
PSY352H5: Animal Behaviour
An introduction to animal behaviour from a biological perspective, stressing ecological and evolutionary aspects of behaviour. The course will review the neural, endocrine and physiological mechanisms mediating animals' natural behaviours, as well as how gene-environment interactions during development modify these behavioural mechanisms.
PSY353H5: Social Neuroscience
The course will focus on the development and adult organization of brain mechanisms underlying the perception of social information and production of diverse social behaviours in mammalian species. Circumstances and events that can lead to diminished function and psychopathology in humans will be considered.
PSY354H5: The Biopsychology of Sex
This course is an introduction to the scientific study of human sexuality. Topics covered may include sexual development, sexual orientation, sex practices, sexuality across the lifespan, sexual dysfunction and sexually transmitted diseases.
PSY355H5: Animal Behaviour Genetics
An introduction to the genetic analysis of behaviour. The concepts and methods of classical Mendelian genetics, quantitative genetics, and recombinant DNA technology-based reverse and forward genetic approaches will be discussed as they relate to the analysis of animal behaviour.
PSY362H5: Animal Cognition
A comparative survey of cognitive processes in animals from an ecological and evolutionary perspective. The course will examine topics including perception, working and reference memory, simple associative and complex relational learning, and concept formation.
PSY368H5: Neuroimaging Laboratory
In this course, you will become familiar with theory and principles underpinning approaches to measuring the brain. The course will focus on techniques used in human neuroscience research. Students will gain skills relevant to the processing, visualization, analysis, interpretation, and reporting of brain data.
PSY369H5: Behavioural Neuroscience Laboratory
In this course, you will be guided through hands-on laboratory exercises to learn how behavioural paradigms, along with anatomical, genetic, and physiological methods, can be used to answer questions relevant to behavioural neuroscience research.
PSY371H5: Higher Cognitive Processes
This course covers selected topics pertaining to higher cognitive processes including expertise, consciousness, creativity, and human and artificial intelligence.
PSY372H5: Human Memory: The World within your Mind
Your everyday life hinges on the ability to encode perceptual information around you (what’s in the fridge?) and build a model of the world in your mind (need to buy milk) so that you can retrieve information later when you need it (at the grocery store). How does your mind and brain support this fundamental yet complex mental ability? In this course, you will learn how human memory works, drawing on key findings in cognitive psychology and recent advances in neuroscience.
PSY379H5: Cognitive Psychology Laboratory
In this course, students will learn how to design and propose original experiments to answer scientific questions of their interest in the field of cognitive psychology. Students will discover the mechanisms involved in the processing of information by engaging with various methodologies used by cognitive psychologists and learn to analyze real data using advanced computational and statistical software.
PSY385H5: Human Factors: Applying Perceptual and Cognitive Research to the World
How can understanding perception help to explain what we do in the world? In this course, we will consider questions from engineering and human factors through the lens of perceptual research, tackling the human side of design and engineering problems. Topics include driver behaviour, interface design, data visualization and the perceptual and psychological foundations that dictate their success or failure.
PSY387H5: Psychology of Music
An examination of the psychological foundations of music perception and performance. Consideration of processing differences between naive and experienced listeners, biological foundations of music processing, cultural contributions to music processing, theoretical perspectives on the origins of music, music and emotion, and the non-musical implications of musical training.
PSY389H5: Perception Laboratory
In this course, students will learn how to develop and design experiments to answer scientific questions of their interest in the study of perception. Students will learn psychophysical methods, which relate the physical properties of the world to perceptual experience, and apply these advanced methods by carrying out experiments and analyzing data.
PSY391H5: Psychology of Pain
An introduction to the biological and psychological aspects of pain, as a multidimensional bodily sensation, an adaptive solution to threatening stimuli and a clinical problem. Pain will be introduced from a phenomenological perspective, focusing on the ways in which social, situational, psychological and organismic factors can alter pain. An awareness of the current challenges and unanswered questions in pain research and management will be fostered.
PSY392H5: Behavioural Epigenetics
Epigenetics encompasses the study of stable alterations in gene activity that occur independent of changes to genetic sequence. Epigenetics has been implicated in all aspects of behaviour, from responding to maternal behaviour in early life to mediating cognitive function in aging and dementia. This course will describe how epigenetics shapes development, learning, memory, stress response, and mental illness in animal and human models.
PSY393H5: Human Neuropsychology
This course will review major topics in cognitive neuroscience, with an emphasis on human function. Sample topics include issues such as memory disorders and models of memory, split brain research, language and aphasia, attention, emotion, and executive functions.
PSY394H5: Nervous System Diseases: from Cause to Clinical Trials
This course introduces students to the biological mechanisms underlying nervous system diseases through an in-depth examination of selected disorders. Beginning with Prion diseases (e.g., “Mad Cow Disease”), the course covers the biological foundations of nervous system diseases, using research articles, patient case studies, and clinical trials to explore how these diseases manifest and progress. By analyzing these elements, students will gain insight into the development of emerging therapies and scientific approaches to treating nervous system diseases.
PSY395H5: Hormones and Behaviour
This course is an introduction to the field of Behavioural Neuroendocrinology -- the study of relationships between hormones, the nervous system, and behaviour in a variety of species from a comparative perspective. Behavioural/functional systems may include reproductive behaviour, social behavior, biological rhythms, eating, and stress.
PSY397H5: Neuroplasticity and Behaviour
An examination of experimental findings and theory documenting the plasticity of the brain and its relationship to behaviour. The course will discuss the molecular, synaptic, cellular and circuitry components of neural plasticity in relation to learning and experience.
PSY399H5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides third year undergraduate students who have developed an understanding of psychological research methods with an opportunity to participate in the research program of a faculty member in return for course credit. Enrolled students will have the opportunity to become involved in original research, enhance their research skills and share in the excitement of acquiring new knowledge and in the discovery process of science. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
PSY399Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides third year undergraduate students who have developed an understanding of psychological research methods with an opportunity to participate in the research program of a faculty member in return for course credit. Enrolled students will have the opportunity to become involved in original research, enhance their research skills and share in the excitement of acquiring new knowledge and in the discovery process of science. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
PSY400Y5: Thesis
Independent research supervised by individual faculty members. Seminars on general topics relevant to the conduct of independent research, student research proposals, and the presentation of findings. To register in the course, students must obtain approval from a faculty supervisor, and apply for and obtain approval from Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences (see the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences website for details). Advanced-level students who do not meet the stated course prerequisites but who possess relevant research experience may be admitted at the discretion of the course instructor. In addition to the seminar component, students complete at least 72 hours of research in the laboratory of their supervisor.
Note: Entry to the course is competitive. Satisfaction of minimum requirements does not guarantee admission to the course.
PSY401Y5: Knowledge Translation: Delivering Scientific Discovery to the Real-World
As a science, psychology investigates why and how humans and nonhuman animals feel, think, and behave in the ways they do. Our discoveries can be harnessed for societal good when the insights gained from psychological research are communicated accurately to the public. In this course, students will participate in seminars to learn to communicate effectively about scientific discoveries and engage in the process of knowledge translation. Students will also work with a Psychology faculty supervisor to create and deliver knowledge translation products.
Note: To register in the course, students must obtain approval from a faculty supervisor, and apply for and obtain approval from the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences (see the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences website for details).
PSY402H5: Roots of Psychology: A history of the field from the 19th century to the present day
Where did the field of psychology come from, and where is it going? In this course we will explore these questions through the lens of theoretical frameworks, experimental methods, ideas that have (or have not) endured, recent advances, and promising new directions.
PSY403H5: Individual Project
Independent research on a specific aspect of human or animal behaviour. Students arrange for a Faculty supervisor during the preceding term.
PSY404H5: Individual Project
Independent research on a specific aspect of human or animal behaviour. Students arrange for a Faculty supervisor during the preceding term.
PSY405H5: Individual Project
Independent research on a specific aspect of human or animal behaviour. Students arrange for a Faculty supervisor during the preceding term.
PSY406H5: Individual Project
Independent research on a specific aspect of human or animal behaviour. Students arrange for a Faculty supervisor during the preceding term.
PSY410H5: Special Topics in Developmental Psychology
In depth examination of selected topics in developmental psychology. Topics change periodically. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L, S, T, P) from year to year, but will always be 36 hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
PSY415H5: Special Topics in Adult Development and Aging
In depth examination of selected topics in adult development and aging. Topics change periodically. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L, S, T, P) from year to year, but will always be 36 hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
PSY420H5: Special Topics in Social Psychology
In depth examination of selected topics in social psychology. Topics change periodically. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L, S, T, P) from year to year, but will always be 36 hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
PSY424H5: Special Topics in Well-Being
In depth examination of selected topics in well-being. Topics change periodically. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L, S, T, P) from year to year, but will always be 36 hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
PSY430H5: Special Topics in Personality
In depth examination of selected topics in personality. Topics change periodically. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L, S, T, P) from year to year, but will always be 36 hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
PSY440H5: Special Topics in Abnormal Psychology
In depth examination of selected topics in abnormal psychology. Topics change periodically. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L, S, T, P) from year to year, but will always be 36 hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
PSY442Y5: Practicum in Exceptionality in Human Learning
Seminar and practicum on issues relating to the life-long development of individuals with disabilities. Seminar at UTM; practicum involves supervised placements in schools or social service agencies (80 hours). Course is required for students enrolled in the Exceptionality in Human Learning Specialist program and is available to Psychology Specialists, Majors and Minors on a competitive basis. Course fulfills the 400-level seminar requirement for the Psychology Specialist Program. Admission by academic merit. Interested students should submit an application to the Psychology office by mid-April. Application procedures: http://www.utm.utoronto.ca/psychology/undergraduate-studies/course-info….
PSY471H5: Special Topics in Cognition
In-depth examination of selected topics in cognition. Topics change periodically. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L, S, T, P) from year to year, but will always be 36 hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
PSY474H5: Special Topics in Human Communication
In-depth examination of selected topics in the psychology of human communication. Topics change periodically. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L, S, T, P) from year to year, but will always be 36 hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
PSY480H5: Special Topics in Perception
In-depth examination of selected topics in perception. Topics change periodically. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L, S, T, P) from year to year, but will always be 36 hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
PSY490H5: Advanced Topics in Neuroscience
In depth examination of selected topics in biological psychology. (Topics change periodically.)
PSY495H5: Special Topics in Neuropsychology
In depth examination of selected topics in neuropsychology. Topics change periodically. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L, S, T, P) from year to year, but will always be 36 hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
PSY499H5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a rewarding opportunity for students in their fourth year to undertake relatively advanced work in the research project of a faculty member in return for PSY499H course credit. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
PSY499Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a rewarding opportunity for students in their fourth year to undertake advanced work in the research project of a faculty member in return for PSY499Y5 course credit. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
PUN212Y5: Introductory Punjabi
An introduction to the Punjabi language and is designed for students with little or no prior knowledge of Punjabi. Basic grammatical structures and conversational skills will be introduced as well as the gurmukhi script in which Punjabi is most commonly written. Contextual background about the history of Punjabi and the various contexts in which it has been used will also be discussed in class.
RLG101H5: Introduction to the Study of Religion
Theories about the variety and nature of religious experience, personal and collective. How religious life is expressed in such forms as myth, narrative and ritual, systems of belief and value, morality and social institutions.
RLG201H5: Introduction to Religion in the Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts
An examination of the interplay between religion and aesthetics, as expressed through the literary, visual, and performing arts. Structured thematically rather than by religious tradition, this course covers topics such as the creative word, visual representation of the divine through icons and iconography, sacred space and religious architecture, religion and the book arts, religious music, dance, and drama, visual narrativization, and religious ritual as performance.
RLG202H5: Introduction to Judaism
This course studies Jewish religious thought and activity in both ancient and modern times through selected biblical, rabbinic, medieval, and modern Jewish writings. It explores the roots of Jewish religion, the variety of Jewish traditions, and how these traditions worldwide have been transformed throughout history.
RLG203H5: Introduction to Christianity
An introduction to the diverse history of Christianity, ranging from the origins of the Jesus Movement in the Roman Empire to the development of the largest religious tradition in the world with over two billion adherents and thousands of denominations spread across the globe.
RLG204H5: Introduction to Islam
What does it mean to be Muslim? This course explores the cultural and historical development of Muslim life and religious expression. Topics and themes addressed in the course include the Prophet Muhammad, the Qur’an and hadith, law, arts and architecture, material devotion, Sufism, Shiʿism, ritual, and modern movements.
RLG205H5: Key Themes in South Asian Religions
How do we approach the extraordinary diversity of South Asian religious history? Students will explore key terms cutting across religious traditions: sacrifice, worship, ritual, practice, duty, scripture, canon, and doctrine. This course is a general introduction and presupposes no prior knowledge about South Asia.
RLG206H5: Introduction to Buddhism
Philosophy of peaceful meditation or ideology of late capitalism? Both or neither? In this course you will learn through texts, images, objects, voices, and events how Buddhists through history have expressed their aspirations and anxieties, their thoughts and devotion, to discover how this religion changed and grew over time, and how it is being practised and applied today.
RLG207H5: Introduction to Sikhism
This course surveys the history of Sikhism from its beginnings as a devotional movement in late medieval Punjab to its transformation during the colonial period. Students will learn about the historical development of core Sikh doctrines, practices, and institutions.
RLG208H5: Iran before Islam: Introduction to Zoroastrianism
This course studies the history of Zoroastrianism, a religion born in Iran over 3,000 years ago. It analyzes its main doctrines and practices, provides an overview of its sacred literature and arts, and explores its interactions with other religions of the eastern and of the western world through the millennia.
RLG209H5: Introduction to Indigenous Traditions
Indigenous traditions constitute the majority of the world's religions. They encompass the whole earth, and are incredibly diverse. So: where to begin? This course will introduce students to the vast array of global Indigenous traditions in both historic and contemporary contexts by looking comparatively at selected beliefs and practices. Attention will also be paid to Indigenous responses to colonialism and to the ways in which many communities are reviving their traditions.
RLG210H5: Introduction to Hinduism
Hinduism is today the world’s third largest religion, with over one billion practitioners. In this course, students will learn about Hindu philosophy, literature, music, art, architecture, and ritual practices. A special focus will be on interactions between Hinduism and other South Asian religious traditions.
RLG211H5: Introduction to Religion, Media, and Popular Culture
How does religion shape popular culture? How does popular culture shape religion? This course traces a history of these questions from the early modern period through the twenty-first century by looking at fairs and folk culture; mass broadcast media like radio, film, and television; and the rise of digital culture. Topics covered vary by semester, but could include religious comic books, televangelism, mass-mediated religious violence, online pilgrimage, digital occultism, etc.
RLG299Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This courses provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their second year to work in the research project of a professor in return for 299Y course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
RLG300H5: Religion at the Edge of Tomorrow
What will religion look like in 2100? This course asks how early twenty-first century society is using religion to imagine its future around such questions as climate change, neoliberalism, authoritarian capitalism, pandemics, artificial intelligence, etc. Readings pair history, anthropology, and critical theory with science fiction, news media, and visual culture.
RLG301H5: Stranger Things: Religious Objects in Theory and Practice
This course surveys major theories of religious objects and icons from the 18th through the 21st century in order to problematize the categories of fetish, totem, and idol. It presents the study of material religion as integral to the broader study of religion, media, and culture.
RLG302H5: Sufism
This course focuses on the history, institutions, and practices of Sufism, popularly referred to as Islam’s “mystical” dimension. This course will examine the origins of Sufism, the development of metaphysical and theoretical thought, poetry, the emergence of Sufi orders, and shrine-based practices from the Middle East, South Asia, Africa, China, and the West.
RLG303H5: Islam in South Asia
This course focuses on the history of Islam in South Asia from the 8th century to the present with an emphasis on religio-politics, the role of Sufism, Shi'ism, ritual, devotional and material practices, and questions of Islamic identity. Students will read primary sources in translation and examine art, architecture and material culture reflecting the historical depth and religious diversity of Muslims in South Asia.
RLG304H5: Islamic Spiritual Traditions
An investigation of the spiritual traditions in Islam, covering the development of Sufism and other esoteric schools of Islamic thought. The historical evolution of devotional traditions, philosophical schools and scriptural hermeneutics are explored.
RLG305H5: Islamic Aesthetic Traditions
This course explores aesthetic traditions in the Muslim world, including art, architecture, music and literature. Case studies may range from the majestic Taj Mahal to the sonorous voice of Umm Kulthum, from the enthralling worlds of the 1001 Arabian Nights to the lilting lyricism of poets like Hafiz and Rumi.
RLG306H5: Shi'i Islam
An exploration of the history, thought and institutions of the Shi'i interpretation of Islam. The early Shi'i milieu, Zaidi, Ismaili and Twelver Shi'ism and the development of the Shi'i school of thought from early to modern times will be studied in this course.
RLG307H5: Indian Scholasticism
A general introduction to Indian scholasticism through the organizing rubric of the human ends (purusarthas): pleasure, power, moral order, and liberation. Intellectual traditions covered may include the science of desire, aesthetics, the science of power, analysis of the socio-moral order, hermeneutics, and metaphysics.
RLG308H5: Monuments, Inscriptions, and Narratives in South Asia
How do we interpret traces from the past? In the study of South Asia, we have access to a range of material data, inscriptions, legendary accounts, and historiographic poetry. This course explores the use of these sources in different periods and regions.
RLG309H5: Muslim Lives, Ritual Practices
This course will introduce students to topics including aspects of how Islam shapes life-cycle rituals, pilgrimage practices, cycles of fasting and feasting, healing practices, foodways, and votive offerings. Using primary sources, including ethnographic studies, documentaries, images, and food, we will examine case studies drawn from Sunni, Shiʿi, and Sufi traditions in the Middle East, South Asia, North Africa, and beyond.
RLG310H5: The Ramayana
A study of the Ramayana of Valmiki in translation. Themes include aesthetic, ethical, and socio-political issues in the text, as well as commentary and the rise of Rama worship.
RLG311H5: Religion and Ecology
This course explores how ecological concerns have influenced and challenged contemporary religious traditions and non-traditional forms of religious expression. We will also consider how religious traditions themselves have shaped or contributed to the environmental crisis.
RLG312H5: How to Study Religion
What is religion? How should we study it? This course gives students the opportunity to ask the big, messy questions about religion, and to see how scholars know what they know about it. Students will learn key theoretical ideas and research methods, and then apply them in their own projects.
RLG313H5: The Literature of Ancient Israel
The Hebrew Bible (i.e. the Old Testament) is not a single book, but an anthology selected from a larger body of ancient Jewish literature reflecting different authors, historical circumstances, literary genres, and religious agendas. This course familiarizes the student with critical study of the Hebrew Bible and related literature of ancient Jewish communities (Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, Dead Sea Scrolls). Among the topics to be examined are the basic forms of ancient Hebrew literature, the issues of textual development, the process of canonization, and the ancient Near Eastern cultural environment from which this literature emerged.
RLG314H5: Religion and Gender
This course focuses on the interaction of gender and religion from a comparative and multidisciplinary perspective; topics include creation myths, authority and leadership, sainthood, expressions of the divine, and gendered ritual.
RLG315H5: Biblical Wisdom and Poetry
Ancient Jewish sages understood wisdom as a "skill in living." Wisdom for them was an approach to life, a way of looking at the world, and a quest for meaning and purpose in the relationships with God and fellow human beings. Some of history's most enduring collections of ancient wisdom are included in the Hebrew Bible (i.e., Old Testament) books of Job, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. Wisdom perspectives are also found in the Song of Songs and many of the Psalms. Sometimes joyful and exultant, at other times cynical and fatalistic, the ancient sages wrestled with the ups and downs of life, and grappled with them rationally from the perspective of experience and community wisdom. This course investigates the genre of wisdom literature - its style, language, and historical and theological backgrounds - and explores the pluriformity of the biblical heritage.
RLG316H5: Religion and Violence
Is violence inherent in religion? Most religious traditions include teachings that profess a love of peace, and yet these same traditions have motivated some of the most atrocious acts of violence in human history. This course will explore this issue through a critical and comparative examination of theories of different forms of religious violence (e.g., terrorism, sacrifice, patriarchy, colonialism). This examination will in turn involve considering violence in various historical and contemporary religious texts, practices, beliefs, and events.
RLG317H5: Religion and Science
Are scientific and religious practices and ways of understanding unrelated? Contradictory? Complementary? What assumptions are made when we practice religion or science? And what do we assume when we attempt to interpret these practices? This course explores the relationships between religion, science, and academic interpretation in the contemporary world.
RLG318H5: Jainism
This course offers students a historical glimpse at an ancient religion that has had a key influence on values that shape our world today: that not-harming should inform all our actions, that the truth consists in the awareness of contradictory views, or that the main quality of personality is self-improvement.
RLG319H5: Magic, Astrology, and Religion
This course studies the interplay between religion, magic, and astrology. It analyzes how magic and astrology have been viewed in history by different world religions, and how these religions have integrated, or excluded, magical practices and astrological beliefs in their mainstream practices and beliefs.
RLG320H5: Topics in Religion, Media, and Popular Culture
A detailed study of selected topics involving the relationship among religion, media, and popular culture.
RLG323H5: Jesus of Nazareth
Analytic and comparative study of the earliest accounts of the life of Jesus of Nazareth in the canonical and non-canonical Gospels with a supplementary focus on historical reconstructions of Jesus using broader textual, cultural, and archaeological data.
RLG324H5: Paul and Earliest Christianity
An exploration of the literary form and theological content of Paul's letters in the New Testament, including analyses of the importance of Paul in the rise, spread, and development of what would become earliest Christianity.
RLG325H5: Visions and Revelations
Apocalyptic literature, concerned with the expectation of imminent, radical and transforming intervention of the divine into human history, flourished between 200 BCE and 200 CE. This course provides an introduction to the study of the origin, form and function of ancient Jewish and related apocalyptic literature understood in its cultural and literary contexts.
RLG326H5: Early Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism
This course examines how Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity interacted in late antiquity. It explores the processes by which each community (in competition with the other and shaped by a wider social context) formed an identity for itself by establishing an "orthodox" set of beliefs, rituals, moral guidelines, and spiritual ideals.
RLG330H5: Topics in Judaism
A detailed study of selected aspects of Judaism. Visit the Departmental web site at History of Religions for further information.
RLG331H5: Religion on Screen
How have screen-based media technologies (cinema, television, computers, smart phones, video games, etc.) shaped the practice and representation of religion from 1890s till today? What is the relationship between screen cultures and visual religion? Topics may include: magic shows and early cinema; religion in classical Hollywood; devotional websites or zombies.
RLG332H5: Reel Religion
This course uses theories and methods from the study of religion to understand narrative and visual aspects of films that are not explicitly religious. Genres of films may include comedy, horror, action, drama, and sci-fi. Approaches may include the tudy of rituals, symbols, myth, gender, politics, sacred figures, and psychology.
RLG333H5: Biblical Themes in Modern Literature
This course examines the role and representation of various biblical traditions, teachings, and themes in a few selected works of fiction. Topics may include: covenant, freedom, evil, conquest, love, power, suffering, parables, education, and grace. No previous knowledge of the Bible is required.
RLG337H5: Christmas: A History
A broad historical survey of Christmas ranging from the earliest accounts of Jesus’ birth in the New Testament up to contemporary debates about the place of Christmas and its celebration in the public sphere.
RLG340H5: Topics in Christianity
A detailed study of selected aspects of Christianity. Visit the Departmental web site at History of Religions for further information.
RLG342H5: Holy Heroes: The Lives and Legacies of Christian Martyrs
Though it promises eternal life, Christianity was forged in death. By considering narrative accounts of early Christian martyrdom, including the development of the cult of the saints, this course examines how persecution and death have shaped the culture of Christianity for two thousand years.
RLG346H5: Early Modern Christianity
A study of the ways in which Protestant and Catholic Christians contributed to and reacted against the complex intellectual, political, and social changes in Europe from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century.
RLG347H5: Zoroastrian Religious Writings
The course studies passages of Zoroastrian texts, principally from pre-Islamic times, in English translation. These passages are studied from the doctrinal point of view, and placed in the context of the history of Zoroastrianism. In addition, their points of contact with the texts of other religious literatures are analyzed.
RLG348H5: Zoroastrian Customs and Ceremonies
The course analyzes the religious practices and the daily practices having a religious background, performed by the Zoroastrians in modern times. Their historical development is analyzed, considering, for the medieval and modern times, the influence of the environment of the countries where Zoroastrians lived, and where they represented a minority. Also highlighted is the significance of these practices in relationship to the Zoroastrian doctrinal system.
RLG349H5: Medieval Christianity
Spanning a millennium from the fall of Rome to the Protestant Reformation, this course explores the many ways in which the western branch of Christianity, based in Rome, shaped the religion, society, culture, and politics of emerging Europe.
RLG350H5: Topics in Islam
A detailed study of selected aspects of Islam. Visit the Departmental web site at History of Religions for further information.
RLG351H5: Major Themes in the Study of the Quran
An introduction to the Quran, the scripture of Islam. Surveys of the history of the text and the development of traditions of Quranic interpretation and commentary, including tafsir and ta'wil, from early to modern times.
RLG352H5: Jews and Muslims: The Medieval Encounter
This course examines the encounter between Jews and Muslims during the Middle Ages, when a large majority of the Jewish people subsisted under Muslim rule: an overview of the religious, political, communal, material and intellectual settings of the Judaeo-Muslim experience.
RLG356H5: Persia and Beyond: Christianity in Asia to 1300
This course will examine the origins of Syriac-speaking Christianity on the eastern fringes of the Roman world, and chart its spread into Persia, Central Asia, China, and India. In contrast to the situation in Byzantium and in the Latin West, Christians in Asia lived (with few exceptions) as religious minorities under Zoroastrian, Muslim, Confucian, or Hindu rulers. We shall consider how these Christians adapted to regional cultures, engaged the political structures of the day, and developed their own unique theological and spiritual traditions.
RLG357H5: Contemporary Global Christianity
An exploration of the changing face of Christianity in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries focusing on such topics as: Christianity in the Global South; new religious movements within Christianity; and intra- / inter-religious debates and conflicts in contemporary Christianity.
RLG358H5: Christianity in Late Antiquity: From Persecuted Sect to Imperial Religion
Beginning at the end of the Apostolic Age and continuing up to the seventh-century confrontation with early Islam, this course examines the evolution of Christianity from a persecuted sect to the predominant religion of the Roman and Byzantine Empires, with a particular focus on the Eastern Mediterranean and Mesopotamian contexts.
RLG359H5: The Orthodox Church of the Byzantine Empire
By the end of the fourth century, Constantinople was becoming the centre of a distinct branch of the Christian Church. This course will explore the formation and development of this "Eastern Orthodox" Christianity, including its theology, religious practices, social and cultural impact, and relationship to political power.
RLG360H5: Topics in South Asian Religions
A detailed study of selected aspects of South Asian Religions. Visit the Departmental web site at History of Religions for further information.
RLG361H5: Encounters Between Indo-Islamic and Hindu Cultures
This course explores historical encounters between Indo-Islamic and Hindu cultures in pre-colonial South Asia, including narratives of conquest and resistance, iconoclasm and the reuse of images, patterns of courtly dress, translations of Sanskrit sources into Persian, indigenous Islamic practices, and sufi and bhakti poetry.
RLG362H5: Hindu and Muslim Worlds in Modern South Asia
Using primary texts as well as films, art, and architecture, this course explores the interbraided cultures of Islam and Hinduism in South Asia from the early modern period through the present day. It examines colonialism and nationalism’s effect on Hinduism and Islam and religion’s role in modern South Asian culture.
RLG363H5: Hinduism in Documentary Film
How does film capture religious experience? This course explores this question via nonfiction films about Hinduism in both South Asia and the diaspora, with attention to various nonfiction film genres and various modes of religious life (e.g., pilgrimage, Vedic ritual, asceticism, family-based devotion).
RLG365H5: From Murti to Meme: The Image in South Asian Religions
Since antiquity, icons and images have been a key mode of religious life in South Asia. How has the rise of mass media reshaped image-based religion? How has religion shaped mass-mediated visual culture in South Asia and beyond? This course pursues these questions through a series of case studies on topics like poster art, comic books, film, monumental statues, WhatsApp, TikTok, and other media.
RLG366H5: Icon and Iconoclasm in South Asia
This course focuses on the history of the image in Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Sikhism, and Islam in South Asia. What is an icon, an image, a representation, and what is the ritual function of each form? When is the destruction of an icon and act of “iconoclasm”? In this course we consider acts of political plunder, reuse and rebuilding (spolia), and the power of the visual in shaping South Asian religious lives.
RLG370H5: Topics in Buddhism
A detailed study of selected aspects of Buddhism. Visit the Departmental web site at History of Religions for further information.
RLG371H5: Buddhist Thought
The course deals with the historical development of doctrines and controversies pertaining to the most important schools of Buddhist thought up to the end of the first millennium CE. It discusses the relationship of reason, belief and practice while giving a closer look at Buddhist positions on specific philosophical questions.
RLG373H5: Buddhist Practices and Institutions
A study of Buddhist institutions and practices, this course varies in focus. Topics may include devotion, alms-giving, meditation practices, literature, hagiography, monastic codes, artistic and material histories, and/or the political and economic features of Buddhist institutions in particular times and places.
RLG374H5: Buddhist Literatures
The course looks at popular Buddhist educational storytelling, courtly dramas, Buddhist poetry or the life-histories of the buddhas, bodhisattvas and Buddhist holy men and women. It reflects on how popular motifs, aesthetic styles and literary media have helped transport Buddhist doctrines across various times, regions and languages.
RLG378H5: Museums and Material Religion
Museums have long collected and curated religious objects for public audiences, with missionaries as a primary collections source. Multiple visits to the Royal Ontario Museum and other museums will enable students to think critically about how museums received and presented these objects, while engaging with the challenges of museum curation.
RLG380H5: Topics in Comparative Religions
An in-depth study of the main teachings, practices and institutions of the major, and several of the minor, religious traditions: namely, Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Shinto, Sikhism, Taoism and Zoroastrianism. Visit the Departmental web site at History of Religions for further information.
RLG381H5: Topics in Zoroastrianism
A detailed study of selected aspects of Zoroastrianism. Visit the Departmental web site at History of Religions for further information.
RLG382H5: The Divine Comedy: A Spiritual Journey
This course studies the “Divine Comedy” by Dante Alighieri (1265–1321), a poem describing the author’s journey through the afterlife. It analyzes the religious themes of the text, highlighting how different traditions, such as Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Paganism, contributed to Dante’s shaping of the imaginary structure of the otherworldly spaces.
RLG388H5: Topics in Religion
A comprehensive study of special topics in the history of religions. Visit the Departmental web site at History of Religions for further information.
RLG399Y5: Research Opportunity Program
For senior undergraduate students who have developed some knowledge of a discipline and its research methods, this course offers an opportunity to work on the research project of a professor. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, develop their research skills and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Project descriptions for the following fall-winter session are posted on the ROP website in mid-February and students are invited to apply at that time. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
RLG401H5: Advanced Topics in Religion and the Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts
A critical exploration of selected topics concerning the relationship between religion and aesthetics, as expressed through the literary, visual, and performing arts. The focus in any given year may be on a particular tradition, or on broader, comparative understandings of "religion." Similarly, the course may concern one specific art form or a variety of forms, including architecture, dance, film, literature, music, visual art, etc. Visit the Departmental web site at History of Religions for further information.
RLG402H5: Religion and Stories
Stories are central to sacred texts and to creating meaning generally. This course examines different types of stories using approaches from the study of religion. Stories may come from religious traditions or anywhere else, and may involve various media such as books, films, video games, popular music, graphic novels, podcasts, etc.
RLG411H5: Advanced Topics in Religion, Media, and Culture
A critical exploration of selected topics concerning the relationships among religion, media and culture. The focus in any given year may be on a particular religious tradition or on a broader thematic question. Assigned readings typically include a combination of visual and written cultural texts, as well as works of cultural and social theory. Content in any given year depends on the instructor. Visit the Departmental web site at History of Religions for further information.
RLG412H5: Theorizing Religion
This course gives advanced students the opportunity to pursue in-depth study of major classic and contemporary texts in critical theory, cultural studies, and the philosophy of religion. Topics may include: religion and politics; crises of faith; psychology of religion.
RLG415H5: Advanced Topics in Religion
A critical exploration of selected topics in the study of religion. As part of this course, students may have the option of participating in an international learning experience that will have an additional cost and application process. Visit the Departmental web site at History of Religions for further information.
RLG420H5: Women and Gender in Early and Medieval Christianity
This course combines lecture and seminar approaches to understand how ideas about women, gender, and the body were constructed and naturalized in ancient and medieval Christianity.
RLG421H5: South Asian Epics
An exploration of South Asian literary and oral epics moving across boundaries of language and genre. Students will engage with a variety of performative and aesthetic traditions including the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, Buddhist narratives, Sufi poetry, and vernacular epics. We will situate heroic, sacrificial, and romance genres in their social and performative contexts.
RLG422H5: Religion and the Senses in South Asia
This course focuses on Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, and Sikh objects and rituals, and we will read primary sources and scholarship in religious studies, anthropology, and ritual theory. Topics may include the gaze in the formation of icons and images, votive offerings, feasts and fasts, smells (perfumery and corpse disposal), and the aesthetics of religious architecture.
RLG423H5: Ritual and Material Practice in South Asian Islam
In this course we examine the intersection of material practices and senses in South Asian Islamic rituals in how religious worlds are experienced. The course also focuses on the role of ritual and material culture in shaping South Asian Muslim identities (Sunni, Shiʿi, Sufi).
RLG430H5: Advanced Topics in Judaism
A critical exploration of selected topics in the history of Judaism. Visit the Departmental web site at History of Religions for further information.
RLG435H5: The Dead Sea Scrolls
This course provides a survey of the Dead Sea Scrolls, a brief history of the period in which the Scrolls were written, and a presentation of the various ways in which scholars have interpreted them. The course also includes in-depth study of selected texts and themes illuminating the formation of the Hebrew Bible, ancient Judaism, and the historical and theological background of the New Testament and early Christianity.
RLG440H5: Advanced Topics in Christianity
A critical exploration of selected topics in the history of Christianity. Visit the Departmental web site at History of Religions for further information.
RLG442H5: Desert Solitaire: Christian Monasticism and the Ascetic Tradition
This course explores the history and significance of Christian monasticism and asceticism, with a focus on the desert tradition. From the early Desert Fathers and Mothers to contemporary spiritual writers, we consider the enduring legacy of solitude, silence, and self-discipline in the history of Christianity.
RLG445H5: Making Martyrs: From Socrates to the Suicide Bomber
Comparative study of martyrdom and the idea of the martyr beginning with Greco-Roman philosophical concepts of 'noble death' and continuing through Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in ancient, medieval, and contemporary contexts.
RLG448H5: Approaches to the Academic Study of Islam
This seminar introduces advanced undergraduate students to the history, genealogies, theories, and methods that have shaped the academic study of Islam and Muslims in the discipline of religious studies.
RLG449H5: Islamic Sexualities
This course focuses on the diverse attitudes and expressions of sexuality in Islam. Taking a broad approach, this course examines issues of sexuality, including homosexuality, fe/male sexuality, birth control, divorce, marriage, transgender identity and performance, and feminist sexual ethics.
RLG450H5: Advanced Topics in Islam
A critical exploration of selected topics in the history of Islam. Visit the Departmental web site at History of Religions for further information.
RLG451H5: Islamic Literatures
This course is an in depth exploration of the literary traditions of the Islamic world. The course examines the influence of religion in the writings of Muslim authors, as well as the role of symbols, philosophy, mystical practice, ideologies, rituals and history in the creation of literary works such as poetry, novels, biographies, court chronicles, epics, and more.
RLG452H5: Anthropology of Islam
This course focuses on the everyday lived experience of Muslims in different parts of the world. We will read ethnographic studies and analyze films, which highlight important issues in everyday Muslim life: gender, modernity and piety, the role of ritual in everyday practice. This course has an ethnographic field project.
RLG453H5: Researching Islam: Entering the World of Scholarly Investigation
How do academics research Islam? Students in this course learn about and gain hands-on experience with essential scholarly tools for discovering and disseminating new knowledge in this field. Both individually and collaboratively, students will work on original projects concerning academic literature, scholarly communication, or primary sources.
RLG460H5: Advanced Topics in South Asian Religions
A critical exploration of selected topics in the history of South Asian religions. Visit the Departmental web site at History of Religions for further information.
RLG461H5: Religion and Aesthetics in South Asia
South Asian religious traditions are suffused with aesthetic elements and processes -- Hindu temple worship, for example, abounds in music, song, dance, and iconography. In this course we examine the close relationship between religion and aesthetics in South Asia through study of poetics, courtly poetry, visual culture, music, and performance traditions.
RLG462H5: Sex and Gender in South Asian Religions
This course examines ideas, roles, and regulation of sexuality and gender in South Asian religious traditions, paying attention to sexual abstinence and promiscuity as forms of piety, and we will examine performances of the gendered body that transcend and/or problematize the binary construction of masculine and feminine.
RLG463H5: Genealogies of South Asian Religions
This course looks at debates surrounding central concepts in the study of South Asian religions. We will look at theories of asceticism, devotion, renunciation, caste, kingship, ritual, and state that animate the discussion of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam. Students will learn to place their ideas in conversation with larger intellectual genealogies.
RLG464H5: Saints, Royalty, and the State in South Asian Religions
This course focuses on the relationship between religious ideologies, saints, and state power in ancient, medieval, and precolonial Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, and Muslim states in South Asia. We will read primary sources in translation and examine art, architecture, and material culture to examine how kings and saints/ascetics negotiated politics and power.
RLG465H5: Sex and Renunciation in Sanskrit Poetry
This course examines the paradoxical relationship of the erotic in Sanskrit poetry with its opposite—renunciation and the technologies of asceticism involving a rejection of sexuality. While the treatment of these themes reflects a deeper civilizational history emblematized by the figure of Śiva, the erotic ascetic, Sanskrit courtly poetry allows us to examine problems peculiar to courtly life and kingship. Did the aestheticization of power in Sanskrit poetry conflict with transcendental ideals? How was the legitimacy of pleasure seen as both autonomous from and concurrent with other legitimate human ends? We will read all works in translation, and no familiarity with Sanskrit is presumed.
RLG466H5: The Sasanian Empire: Religions at the Crossroads in Ancient Iran
This course studies the religious life of the Sasanian empire that ruled over Iran between 224 and 651 CE. It analyzes how different religions coexisted and interacted in the territory of the empire, including Zoroastrianism (the official religion of the empire), Manichaeism, Christianity, Judaism, and Mazdakism.
RLG470H5: Advanced Topics in Buddhism
A critical exploration of selected topics in the history of Buddhism. Visit the Departmental web site at History of Religions for further information.
RLG497Y5: Independent Reading
Student-initiated project of reading and research, supervised by a member of the Department. Primarily intended for students in Specialist or Major programs. After obtaining a supervisor, a student must apply to the Department of Historical Studies. A maximum of 1.0 credit in a reading course is permitted.
RLG499H5: Independent Reading
Student-initiated project of reading and research, supervised by a member of the Department. Primarily intended for students in Religion Specialist or Major programs. After obtaining a supervisor, a student must apply to the Department of Historical Studies. A maximum of 2 reading courses, amounting to 1.0 credit, is permitted.
RLG499Y5: Research Opportunity Program
For senior undergraduate students who have developed some knowledge of a discipline and its research methods, this course offers an opportunity to work on the research project of a professor. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, develop their research skills and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Project descriptions for the following fall-winter session are posted on the ROP website in mid-February and students are invited to apply at that time. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
SAH200H5: Being Human in South Asia
What does it mean to be human? We will explore South Asian food, music, poetry, and objects to understand human experience through the lived practice of South Asian communities in historical and contemporary contexts. This course uses South Asian texts and practices as theory--as usable tools that help us become better readers of the cultures we study and of ourselves.
SAN291Y5: Introductory Sanskrit
This course introduces students to the basic grammar of the classical Sanskrit language. Students will engage with its phonology (including pronunciation, sandhi, and metrics) and morphology (including word formation, nominal declension, and verbal conjugation). Students will apply their grammatical knowledge and analytic skills to the reading of basic Sanskrit texts. By the end of the course, students will be able to read simple, narrative Sanskrit.
SAN392Y5: Intermediate Sanskrit
This course is a continuation of Introductory Sanskrit. It deepens students' knowledge of the phonology, morphology, and syntax of classical Sanskrit using both western and Indian linguistic terminology as descriptive devices. Students will apply their deeper grammatical knowledge and sharpened analytic skills to the reading of a variety of Sanskrit genres. This course counts towards LIN Major and Minor programs.
SOC100H5: Introduction to Sociology
An introduction to the conceptual and empirical foundations of the discipline intended on providing a foundation for subsequent Sociology and Criminology, Law and Society courses and programs. Students will learn the sociological approach of theory and inquiry to a range of topics.
SOC109H5: Introduction to Criminology, Law & Society
This course provides an introduction to the overlapping areas of “criminology” and “law and society” within the Criminology, Law & Society (CLS) stream. The goal of the course is to provide a sociological foundation for subsequent CLS courses. In addition to a criminological/socio-legal introduction to theory and methods, topics may include law, inequality, intersectionality, legal institutions, legal professions, crime, criminal justice, and punishment.
Note: This course is required for Criminology, Law and Society Major and Specialist programs.
SOC201H5: Corporate Environmental Crime
This course is focused on corporate crime as it pertains to the environment and health. We will explore a range of approaches to studying the corporate form and consider the adverse impacts of corporate practices through a series of case studies. We will examine the politics of evidence and harm related to climate change, lead, PFAS, and tobacco, among other examples. Students will explore common product-defense tactics by companies and consider a range of social movement and state interventions.
SOC202H5: Cultural Sociology
This course introduces students to the field of cultural sociology, which seeks to understand how ideas, meanings, values and beliefs are created, and how they are also implicated in foundational sociological issues such as inequality, identity, social change, and social organization. These linkages are examined through topics such as popular culture, the mass media, science, religion, art, language, knowledge, public opinion, food, advertising and consumerism.
SOC203H5: The Cultural Politics of the Body
The body is an intrinsic part of our existence, but it is often sidelined in sociological conversations. This course aims to redress this oversight, exploring the body as a dynamic site where social forces converge and personal experiences unfold. “Body work” encompasses the conscious and unconscious efforts we make to manage our physical selves in relation to societal expectations, norms, and power structures. From exercise regimens and dietary choices to the subtle adjustments we make in our posture and self-presentation, we'll examine diverse forms of body work and the myriad ways our bodies are both molded by and actively shape our social world. Through diverse theoretical lenses and empirical research, we will examine how bodies are both sites of power, social problems, and exploitation, as well as sources of pleasure, joy, and resistance. Topics explored may include but are not limited to the following: health and illness, fatness, fitness and sport, diet culture, taste, aging, disability, sexuality, beauty, cosmetic surgery, and eating disorders.
SOC205H5: Theories in Criminology
This course will cover major theoretical paradigms in the field of criminology included, among others, classical, positivist, strain, control, social learning, critical, feminist, postmodern and critical race theories. Students are required to take this course upon entry to the Criminology, Law and Society Major and Specialist programs.
SOC206H5: Introduction to the Sociology of Genocide
This lecture course will lead students through an in-depth consideration of why genocides occur.
SOC208H5: Crime and Organizations
An analysis of the intersection between crime and organizations. This course introduces students to various organizational theories and examines crime by organizations, crime within organizations, and crime that is "organized."
SOC210H5: Canadian Criminal Justice
This course provides an introduction to sociological and criminological analyses of crime, law, and the operation of the Canadian criminal justice system, with emphasis on how law and criminal justice are shaped by social, political and economic considerations. It will also consider how social identities such as race, class and gender influence individuals' perceptions of, and experiences in, the Canadian criminal justice system.
SOC211H5: Law and Social Control
This course investigates the role of law in shaping social norms and regulating behavior.
SOC216H5: Sociology of Law
Major theoretical and substantive debates in the sociology of law. How race, gender and social inequality shape legal institutions, the law and the broader social context.
SOC219H5: Gender and Crime
This course explores how masculinity and femininity shape and are shaped by offending, violence, and victimization. Possible topics may include the gender gap in crime, intersectionality, gender diversity, victimless crimes, survival crimes, gender-based violence, and missing and murdered Indigenous women.
SOC221H5: The Logic of Social Inquiry
Logic of Social Inquiry compares the logic of quantitative and qualitative research. Key topics include the relationship between theory and research, conceptualization and measurement of sociological concepts and sampling strategies in the quantitative and qualitative traditions. Students are introduced to a range of data collection methods. Students are required to take this course upon entry to the Sociology and Criminology, Law and Society Major and Specialist programs.
SOC222H5: Measuring the Social World
This course addresses how we are able to measure social concepts such as social characteristics, social attitudes, and social actions. Descriptive statistics and their presentation in tables and graphs will be presented in some detail. A very basic introduction to inferential statistics and sampling will also be presented. Students are required to take this course upon entry to the Sociology and Criminology, Law and Society Major and Specialist programs.
SOC224H5: Sociology of Education
This course examines what some of our key sociological thinkers have said about the role of education in society, from socialization to sorting students into different opportunities, including along the lines of race, class and gender. The course also covers the development of the education system in Canada, the career of teaching, curriculum development, and standardized testing. Students will have the opportunity to apply sociological insights to contemporary issues in education.
SOC227H5: Sociology of Work and Occupations
This course covers work and post-industrialization in Canada today. It considers labour force participation, and social differences and inequalities across different groups, including gender, class, and ethnicity/race. It also examines managerial cultures and styles, and workers' responses and resistance to managerial control.
SOC228H5: Introduction to Indigenous Studies
This survey course introduces students to the interdisciplinary field of Indigenous Studies. Students will explore the themes, theories and methods of the discipline, and develop a foundational knowledge about Indigenous history, peoples, cultures and societies in Canada.
SOC230H5: Thinking Like a Sociologist
This course builds on SOC100H5 through a deep engagement with 4-5 significant new publications in Sociology, typically books by department faculty and visiting scholars. By developing reading and writing skills through a variety of assignments, including reflections, and experiential learning in classroom debates and simulations with the researchers who produced the publications, students will learn to "think like a sociologist". Possible topics covered include race/ethnicity, gender, work, immigration, political sociology, cultural sociology, and criminology, as well as other major subfields within the discipline.
SOC231H5: Classical Sociological Theory
This course presents a discussion and analysis of classical sociological theory including such key figures as Marx, Durkheim, Weber and Du Bois among others. Students are required to take this course upon entry to the Sociology Major and Specialist programs and the Criminology, Law and Society Specialist program.
SOC236H5: Globalization
How do individuals relate to the complex and over-used concept of "globalization"? This course will explore major theories and controversies in the field of globalization scholarship, looking at the phenomena from the perspective of global capitalists, anti-globalization social movements, consumers, states, and citizens. Students will critically evaluate common claims made about globalization, and acquire tools to assess the validity of competing perspectives.
SOC240H5: Introduction to Social Policy
This course will examine how human needs are met by states. It focuses on the sociological, political and economic forces that help create new policies and reshape existing social policies. The course will provide a survey of welfare state policies, economic policies and family policies. It will also focus on the outcomes of social policy as these affect various constituencies and social groups such as the economically underprivileged and disadvantaged, racial and ethnic minority groups, and people with disabilities.
SOC244H5: Sociology of Families
The development and variation in contemporary families will be presented. Topics may include cross-cultural comparisons, the impact of legal, economic and political factors as well as change in the meaning of the term "family".
SOC253H5: Social History of Race and Ethnicity
This course examines how ideas about "race" and "ethnicity" evolved and became institutionalized on a global scale, as well as systems of exploitation, exclusion and inequality that have given rise to today's patterns of racial and ethnic inequality in the world. We focus on examples from different regions of the world, as well as examine large-scale historical events such as colonialism, slavery and immigration.
SOC263H5: Social Inequality
Examines the causes, prevalence and manifestations of social, political and economic inequalities, internationally and within Canada. The effects of gender, age, ethnicity-race, among other characteristics, are carefully analyzed in Canada and cross-culturally.
SOC275H5: Sociology of Gender
This course introduces students to the sociology of gender showing how gender is a relationship of power that structures our everyday lives from intimate relationships through global political and economic forces. We will focus on gender and gender differences as produced in historically and locally specific ways where gender differences intersect with those of race, ethnicity, class, religion, sexuality and other structures of inequality.
SOC299H5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their second year to work in the research project of a professor in return for SOC299H5 course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
SOC299Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their second year to work in the research project of a professor in return for SOC299Y5 course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
SOC301H5: Canadian Prisons
This course will examine trends and approaches within the correctional system in Canada. It will explore the historical and contemporary context of correctional practices. Attention will be paid to the differential impact of Canadian corrections on Aboriginal people and other minority groups.
SOC302H5: Indigenous-Canada Relations
This course analyzes Indigenous-Canada relations. Topics may include nationhood, diplomatic relations, trade, military relationships, assimilation/civilization policy, land claims, self-government, and/or education.
SOC303H5: White-collar and Corporate Crime
This course explores the individual, organizational, and ecological dimensions of white-collar and corporate crime. Topics generally include financial and environmental crime, workplace safety, and organizational deviance. As well, the social, political, and criminal justice responses to these crimes will be examined.
SOC304H5: Environmental Sociology
This course focuses on human-nature interactions, and the social processes that modify and threaten the natural world.Students develop a better understanding of environmental issues, the interrelationship between social problems and environmental problems, as well as the ways that humans themselves are part of nature.
SOC305H5: Asian Canada and Asian Diaspora
The course will introduce students to the core and cutting-edge sociological and interdisciplinary scholarship on Asian Canada and Asian diaspora from transnational perspectives. We will examine the history of Asian migration to North America on the context of colonialism, the Cold War, and capitalist development, as well as the experiences of various Asian immigrant communities in the contemporary era.
SOC306H5: Education and Social Control
This course explores the intersections of education and social control. In particular, we focus on moments when social control is evident in schooling, including how that control is used on some populations more than others. Topics include zero-tolerance policies, police/security presence in schools, education programming in prison, and the school-to-prison pipeline.
SOC308H5: Law and Crime in Asia and Asian Diasporas
This course introduces students to the core and cutting-edge sociological and interdisciplinary scholarship on law and crime in Asia and Asian diasporas across the world. It examines major topics in criminology, law and society in various Asian contexts (e.g., legal consciousness, legal pluralism, dispute resolution, policing, rights mobilization, etc.), as well as the experiences of Asian immigrant communities with legal and criminal justice systems.
SOC309H5: Sociology of Mass Communication
This course examines the theories, methods, and findings of sociological studies of media production, content, and reception. The focus is on understanding how communication theories are adjudicated by empirical findings. Topics include race and gender in the media, bias in the news, media ownership, the film industry, and the role of the media in politics.
SOC310H5: Youth Justice
The youth criminal justice system in Canada. Topics include historical and contemporary shifts in the youth justice system, young offender legislation, public perceptions and media representations of juvenile delinquency, current research and theories on youth crime and crime prevention strategies. Particular attention is paid to the treatment of specific groups.
SOC311H5: Special Topics in Law
This course will provide an in-depth exploration of a specific topic in law. Topics vary from year to year and are noted on the timetable once confirmed. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
SOC312H5: Law, Race and Racism
The course investigates the relationship between law, race, and racism and the societal implications. Students will gain a stronger understanding of how law creates race for the purposes of legitimating and perpetuating racism and the ways that law can, under some conditions, generate social change that reduces racial inequality.
SOC314H5: AI, Robotics, and Society
| This course focuses on the social, historical, and technological origins and the intended as well as unintended consequences of the Internet, Artificial Intelligence and Robotics for society. Major classical and contemporary sociological concepts will be introduced and used for understanding these new technologies. |
SOC315H5: Wrongful Convictions
This course offers a comprehensive review of Canadian Wrongful Convictions and a comparative analysis of the causes of wrongful convictions in other commonwealth countries. This course also focuses on an in-depth review of the responses to the selected cases of wrongful conviction considering the impact of each case on the exoneree and on society through a review of related public inquiry recommendations.
SOC316H5: Crime Prevention and Security
The growth of political, economic, community and academic interest in crime prevention and security. How segments of society or particular physical sites are constructed as security risks in need of regulation. The regulation of security, including crime prevention, community safety, risk reduction and surveillance. These issues are then examined in relation to specific empirical developments such as private policing, restorative justice, community policing and gated communities.
SOC317H5: Shopping and Society
This course provides an overview of the Sociology of Consumption. The study of consumption provides an entry point for examining the intersection between culture, economics, and the environment. Potential topics include the following: the shopping experience, consumption as status, the environmental impact of consumerism, fashion cycles, and identity construction through consumption.
SOC318H5: Sociology of Mental Health and Mental Disorders
An overview of the link between social inequality and inequality in distress, focusing on differences in mental health across social groups and the role of stress and coping resources in explaining group differences.
SOC319H5: Capitalism and Society
| This course focuses on the origins and multiple intended and unintended social consequences – including the birth of formal academic Sociology - of modern industrial capitalism. Possible topics include colonialism, slavery, imperialism, food, family, fashion, media, politics, war, inequality, relationships, identities, consumption, education, globalization, the climate crisis etc. |
SOC320H5: Criminal Justice Organizations
This course uses organizational theory to examine major criminal justice institutions--including police, courts, and prisons. It examines the role of organizational goals, structure, resources, legitimacy, culture, and front-line workers in shaping organization-level decisions about policy and practice. It also examines the interactions, mutual influence, and competition between government, interest groups, and criminal justice institutions that help to initiate and sustain field-wide change.
SOC321H5: Law & Rights
This course investigates the promise and limitations of rights as a legal framework to safeguard citizens and residents of Canada and abroad. Topics include the framing and implementation of novel rights claims, the relationship between formal rights and social norms, and the impact of rights frameworks on civic and community ties.
SOC322H5: Criminal Justice and Inequality
This course examines the intersections between social inequality and the criminal justice system in Canada and internationally. The course will explore the impact of practices and policies on race, class, gender and other forms of social inequality.
SOC323H5: Law, Culture and Social Problems
This course explores contemporary social problems related to law with an emphasis on cultural dynamics such as perception, group and community culture, stereotyping, and meaning-making. Topics covered may include law in everyday life, gun carrying by gun owners, workplace discrimination lawsuits, the #MeToo movement, and the Canadian government’s marginalization of Indigenous legal orders.
SOC324H5: Carceral Feminisms: Race, Gender and State Violence
This course explores how different strains of feminism shape practices of punishment. Course topics may include: intersectional debates in the regulation of domestic violence, gender-responsive policing, state regulation of gender-based violence, and prison abolition theory and praxis.
SOC325H5: Law and Social Theory
This course examines the writings on law-related topics in classical and contemporary social theories. At the intersection between socio-legal studies and sociological theory, the course traces how different generations of social theorists approach law, from classical theorists such as Montesquieu, Tocqueville, Marx, Durkheim, and Weber to contemporary socio-legal theorists across the world.
SOC326H5: Policing
This course will examine the nature of policing, its structure and function. Attention is given to the theoretical analyses of policing, the history of policing and to its public and private forms. The course will focus on the objectives and domain, as well as the strategies, powers, and authority of contemporary policing; including decision-making, wrong-doing, accountability, and the decentralization of policing.
SOC327H5: Drugs and the Modern World
The course examines how "drugs", as well as attempts to police and control their use, have been implicated in the making of the modern world. Instead of taking drugs as inherently criminal and deviant, the course will look at how drugs have played a central role in the development of capitalism, colonialism and global inequality in the past 200 years.
SOC329H5: Law & Social Movements
This course focuses on how popular movements and legal institutions influence efforts to produce or prevent social change. Taking a comparative approach, it examines the social conditions that mobilize and sustain popular movements, factors that contribute to movement success, and the receptivity of courts to pressure from below.
SOC330H5: Criminology and Immigration
This course examines the intersection between immigration and crime control. More specifically, it examines immigration detention and deportation, concerns with immigrant risk, security and terrorism, as well as the impact of public policy on immigration and crime.
SOC331H5: Gender and Criminal Justice
This course explores how gender impacts criminalization and how gender shapes the way criminal justice is conceptualized and delivered. Possible topics may include masculinity & criminalization; gender & policing; gender & court outcomes; women's prisons, and trans issues in prisons.
SOC332H5: Race and Ethnicity in Canada
This course deals with the social construction of racial and ethnic categories in the Canadian context, as well as with how Canadian institutions have used racial and ethnic categories to generate inequality and exclusion. It also addresses how individuals, social movements and institutions have at times worked to resist, challenge or modify these practices of categorization and exclusion.
SOC333H5: Criminal Groups and Organizations
An analysis of the intersection between criminal groups and crime and organizations. This course introduces students to various organizational theories and examines how criminal groups and organizations form, crime by organizations, and crime that is "organized".
SOC334H5: Aging and Society
This course will examine (1) theoretical and empirical issues regarding demographic, economic, and social processes of aging as they affect individuals, families, and societies; (2) the variations in the process and meaning of aging across gender, ethnicity, and class; and (3) public policy issues concerning aging with regard to the process of public policy-making and effectiveness of relevant programs and services.
SOC335H5: Political Sociology
This course will introduce students to the classic and contemporary view of political processes in small groups, organizations, institutions, communities and societies. Specific topics to be covered may include revolutions, state formation, ethnic nationalism, social capital and civic participation, gender politics, the various varieties, causes and effects of welfare states and social movements. The course will have both a Canadian and international focus.
SOC336H5: Special Topics in Sociology
This course explores a particular area within sociology. Topics vary from year to year and are noted on the timetable once confirmed. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
SOC337H5: Special Topics in Criminology, Law and Society
This course will explore a particular area within criminology, law and society. Topics vary from year to year and are noted on the timetable once confirmed. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
SOC338H5: Legal Developments in Criminology
This course will survey new legal developments in the field of criminology and criminal law. It will explore the intersections between criminal law and other forms of regulation in society.
SOC339H5: The Indian Act: Canadian Law, Sovereignty and Indigenous Womxn
In discussions about Indigenous Peoples and law, the Indian Act is one of the most cited pieces of Canadian legislation. From explaining the history of residential schooling to violence against Indigenous womxn, critical and Indigenous scholars turn to the Indian Act as a key source and problem space. We will center the work of Indigenous feminist scholarship to understand why scholars argue that the act is still both required and a site of contestation, violence, and genocide, and how we are each affected by its governance.
SOC340H5: Social Change
Understanding social transformation is at the heart of sociological inquiry. This course introduces students to the sociological analysis of social change - particularly how societies evolve into complex systems. The course examines how social, political and economic institutions are transformed by social change, as well as how these institutions can themselves promote social change. We also examine how citizens can affect change through social and political participation. In addition to classical foundations, the course covers a range of contemporary themes including inequality and stratification, social movements, globalization, and law and justice.
SOC341H5: Contemporary Issues in the Sociology of Work
This course will focus on key changes in the world of work since the 1970s and their implications for different groups. We will engage different sides of debates about such issues as women in the workforce, recent immigrant and migrant workers, unions and mobility. Throughout the course, emphasis will be placed on how class, gender, ethnic and race relations shape work and occupations.
SOC344H5: Sociological Approaches to Social Psychology
This course provides an overview of sociological approaches to social psychology, with an emphasis on how individuals' thoughts, behaviors, and emotions are influenced by both situations and larger social structures. Theoretical perspectives including symbolic interaction, group processes, and social structure and personality will be examined in depth and applied to understanding various topics; these may include self and identities, socialization, attitudes, emotions, deviance, mental health, and collective behavior.
SOC345H5: Special Topics in Sociology
This course explores a particular area within sociology. Topics vary from year to year and are noted on the timetable once confirmed. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
SOC346H5: Special Topics in Criminology, Law and Society
This course will explore a particular area within criminology, law and society. Topics vary from year to year and are noted on the timetable once confirmed. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
SOC347H5: Sociology of Masculinities
In this course students will engage with foundational material on the intersections of gender, sex, and sexuality as they relate to masculinity. This includes foundational work on hegemonic masculinity and multiple masculinities.
SOC348H5: Indigenous Rights, Resistance, and Resurgence
This course explores Indigenous people’s confrontations with colonization through an examination of rights-based processes, resistance movements, and community-led resurgence efforts. Topics may include: rights, courts, and legal action; land reoccupation; political organizing; everyday acts of resistance and resurgence such as petitioning, social media, arts-based movements, and community initiatives.
SOC349H5: Sociology of Food
Sociological analysis of food in global, regional and intimate contexts. It links cultural and structural aspects of the food system, historically and in the present. Students will investigate and report on inter-cultural food practices in Canada.
SOC350H5: Quantitative Analysis
The course is a continuation of SOC222H5 (Measuring the Social World) ) and introduces students to more advanced applications of regression analysis. In addition to producing and interpreting regression models, this course also focuses on diagnostic tools for addressing outliers and multicolinearity, as well as regression with categorical independent variables and dependent variables (including a basic introduction to logistic regression). This course is mainly project based. Students will develop their own research questions and hypotheses and use statistical software to analyze data in order to provide evidence for their hypotheses. All students in the Sociology and Criminology, Law and Society Specialist programs are required to take this course.
SOC351H5: Politics and Violence: Spot the Difference
This course aims to develop a critical approach to the study of violence. We will examine the linkages between politics and crime, between violence and democracy and the political context of specific forms of violence, such as vigilantism, state, collective and, structural violence.
SOC352H5: Gender and Care
This course will examine how gender shapes the work of care, and its value in society. It will look at both unpaid and paid care and the relationship between them. It will compare how care is organized and it's value in different countries, and institutions (ranging from hospitals to homes) and consider care provided to children, elderly people and adults with disabilities. Contemporary topics include care from the recipient's perspective, and new efforts to value care work.
SOC353H5: Borders and Human Rights
This course focuses on the legal construction of international borders, with an emphasis on human rights. The course investigates a range of issues, including but not limited to, the 1951 Refugee Convention and refugee movements, the limits of citizenship rights, and the merging of criminal justice and migration enforcement, including the use of detention as a migration management tool.
SOC354H5: Global Sociology
Approaches to transnational networks, structures and processes, such as diasporic networks, transnational corporations, and social movements.
SOC355H5: Sociology of the Professions
Becoming a professional (doctor, accountant, lawyer, engineer, nurse, etc...) remains a coveted goal for many young adults and their parents. But what is a profession, and what do these disparate groups have in common? This course lays the groundwork for understanding how the "professional projects" define professions, limit entry, create internal inequalities and try to maintain their prestige. The role of policy is key to our understanding of the professions, and we will focus on the role of policies in the creation of professions, in the substance of professional work such as ethics, autonomy and commercialism, and on the role of policies in addressing social concerns of inequality and diversity in the professions.
SOC356H5: Population and Society
This course will discuss interrelationship between human population and societal issues such as aging, reproductive health, gender, environment, and social policy. It will examine population structure and dynamics in relation to social, economic, political, and cultural elements of change in both developing and developed world. It will also examine historical population policy developments and the diversified national policies in relation to policy formulation, implementation, and effectiveness.
SOC357H5: The Legal Profession
This course introduces the legal profession from a sociological perspective. Focussing on the social structure of the legal profession, the course draws on the sociology of professions and the sociology of law and covers topics such as the creation of the profession, competition from inside and outside, historical and modern challenges to professional boundaries, and structural transformations and shifts. The course will provide examples from global legal professions. It does not teach how to think like a lawyer, nor does it provide the perspective of legal practitioners, but instead it provides social science perspectives for understanding how the legal profession is organized, differentiated, and transformed over space and time.
SOC358H5: Indigenous People: Legal Orders and Law
This course examines Indigenous people's traditional and contemporary legal orders and confrontations and interactions with non-Indigenous legal systems. Topics may include: treaties; land and resource rights and laws; rights; self-government; governance; restorative justice; colonial legal systems; criminalization and criminal law; and/or international law.
SOC359H5: Gendered Identities
This course will focus on the production of gendered selves, femininity and masculinity, sexuality and sexual identities. We will draw from theoretical and empirical work in the sociology of gender and related disciplines, emphasizing the ways in which gender intersects with class, ethnicity, race, religion and other forces of difference in the production of identities.
SOC360H5: Movements for Environmental Justice
This course is focused on environmental justice. We will explore interdisciplinary approaches to environmental justice, learning about social movements against environmental racism, colonialism, and toxicity across what is now Canada and the United States, also known as Turtle Island. We will compare how proponents of environmental justice and anti-colonialism frame their struggles, define, and enact the solutions they seek. The course will focus on structural drivers of environmental risk and violence through perspectives and voices often excluded from mainstream environmental discourse.
SOC361H5: Sociology of Organizations
This course examines the structure and culture of organizations, including the range of management cultures, and how relationships among unions, management, and employees are affected by the social structure and culture of both the employer and the union as organizations.
SOC362H5: Sociology of Gender, Work, and Labour
This course will engage social theories to understand the gendered structure of work and labour. We will discuss gendered work and its intersections with race and ethnicity, im/migration, class, sexual orientation, geography, and time.
SOC363H5: Sexuality and Crime
This course focuses on the socio-legal origins, regulations,and consequences of sexuality, reproduction, and sexual violence. Possible topics may include historical and contemporary sexual and reproductive regulations, sexual violence, sex offenders, sex work, pornography, trafficking, and hate crimes against sexual minorities.
SOC365H5: Special Topics in Criminology
This course will explore a particular area within criminology. Topics vary from year to year and are noted on the timetable once confirmed. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
SOC366H5: Special Topics in Criminology
This course will explore a particular area within criminology. Topics vary from year to year and are noted on the timetable once confirmed. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
SOC367H5: Sociology of Emotions
This course examines emotions sociologically, understanding them not as internal experiences but as feelings attached to something outside of us, whether objects, events, or other people. It incorporates emotions into traditional areas of sociological inquiry such as race, class, and gender, and examines how particular emotions shape our social world.
SOC369H5: Digital Culture and Society
Digital culture explores the intersections of human culture and digital technology. How do digital technologies – including the internet and social media – shape identity, groups, and institutions? How do they shape our interactions, experiences, and practices? What kinds of shifts have we seen over time in the interrelationship between digital culture and society?
SOC371H5: Sociology of Punishment
Punishment cannot be analyzed outside of its historical, cultural, economic, political and social context. This course offers students a critical, multidisciplinary approach to the study of punishment in Canadian society.
SOC373H5: Economic Sociology
How is the worth of an item determined? What do financial crises reveal about social life? How do financial traders make decisions? Economic questions, and facts, are inherently sociological. This course teaches you to connect the economy to society by examining a range of phenomena that are more readily related to the economy,such as financial crises, CEO compensation, Silicon Valley innovation, markets and firms, but also those that are not,such as love, art, doormen, the organs of dead bodies, and nature. This course will emphasize how economic transactions create, legitimate, and transform social relations, how economic behaviour needs to be understood within its social context, and how economic principles permeate aspects of social life that seem to resist or lie outside of the economic realm.
SOC375H5: Sociology of International Migration
This course will analyze the forces that cause people to leave the country of their birth. We will look at why some countries become predominantly leaving countries, and other immigrant receiving countries. Possible topics include the politics of integration, multiple citizenships, refugee and settlement policies, the development of transnational social spaces and transnational governance structures. Attention will also be given to the dynamics of race, ethnicity, class, and gender in structuring international growth.
SOC378H5: Law, Crime and Justice
This course draws on case law to explore a particular area within law and justice. Topics will vary from year to year.
SOC379H5: Criminology, Urban Life, and Social Policy
The city is an important site of human interaction, characterized by crisis and promise. Through the lens of the city, this course will examine the nature of various social problems, including their causes and impacts. In particular, we will consider how criminological scholarship can analyze and inform policy responses to these issues. Course topics will include a diverse array of issues related to criminalization, youth justice, neighbourhood-level inequality, violence, and the criminal justice system.
SOC382H5: Genocide and Memory
This research-based course will engage students with the following two questions: Why does genocide happen? How do we construct, present, and maintain our memories of these terrible social phenomena? Students will spend the first part of the course learning about the sociology of genocide. Students will also be exposed to general theories of culture and the social construction of memory, and will be trained in qualitative methods, with a focus on basic field observation and field note writing. Students will take this knowledge and training into the field, using a sociological lens to look at genocide museums and memorials, and the people who visit them. The course will culminate in a final project based on the students' observations and analysis during one of several course field trips. The specific cultural and historical sites for the course will vary from year to year. As part of this course, students may have the option of participating in an international learning experience that will have an additional cost and application process. An interview may be required, with priority going to UTM Sociology and Criminology Majors and Specialists.
SOC384H5: Media Ethics and Policy: Controversies in Mass Communication
This course examines conflicts and controversies in the media. The goal of the course is to analyze power struggles within the realm of the media in order to understand how they both reflect and can reinforce broader social inequalities. Special emphasis is paid to the role of media policies and regulations. Topics include censorship, violence, pornography, marketing, social media and privacy.
SOC387H5: Qualitative Analysis
This course surveys various qualitative methods sociologists use. Students gain insight into the craft of sociology through reading examples of the different qualitative methods, discussing the theories behind the methods, conducting hands-on research exercises and analyzing qualitative data. The objective of this course is to learn to design and conduct a qualitative research project and to analyze qualitative sociological data. All students in the Sociology and Criminology, Law and Society Specialist programs are required to take this course.
SOC388H5: Race and Indigeneity
This course examines how the concept of race, and the ideologies that inform it, impacts identity politics for Indigenous peoples. Special attention will be paid to the socio-cultural and legal effects of racialized knowledge production. Topics may include: human genome projects, museums, recognition politics, legal definitions, criminalization, access to resources, stereotypes and personhood.
SOC391H5: Independent Research in Sociology
This course is intended for Sociology Specialists and Majors who wish to explore a specific Sociology topic in depth. To enrol, a student must prepare a proposal form in consultation with a faculty supervisor and submit the approved form to the academic counsellor.
Note: Professors have discretion whether to take on an independent study; they are not required to serve as faculty supervisors.
SOC392H5: Independent Research in Sociology
This course is intended for Sociology Specialists and Majors who wish to explore a specific Sociology topic in depth. To enrol, a student must prepare a proposal form in consultation with a faculty supervisor and submit the approved form to the academic counsellor.
Note: Professors have discretion whether to take on an independent study; they are not required to serve as faculty supervisors.
SOC393H5: Independent Research in Criminology, Law and Society
This course is intended for Criminology, Law and Society Specialists and Majors who wish to explore a specific Criminology, Law and Society topic in depth. To enrol, a student must prepare a proposal form in consultation with a faculty supervisor and submit the approved form to the academic counsellor.
Note: Professors have discretion whether to take on an independent study; they are not required to serve as faculty supervisors.
SOC394H5: Independent Research in Criminology, Law and Society
This course is intended for Criminology, Law and Society Specialists and Majors who wish to explore a specific Criminology, Law and Society topic in depth. To enrol, a student must prepare a proposal form in consultation with a faculty supervisor and submit the approved form to the academic counsellor.
Note: Professors have discretion whether to accept students wishing to pursue an independent studies course; they are not required to serve as faculty supervisors.
SOC399H5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their third or fourth year to work in the research project of a professor in return for SOC399H5 course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
SOC399Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their third or fourth year to work in the research project of a professor in return for SOC399Y5 course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
SOC401H5: Doing Public Sociology
In this seminar course, students learn to communicate insights based in sociological research to a broader audience, beyond the university. Student design and execute projects (essays, creating a podcast or video, and/or public speaking) on sociological topics of their choosing related to law and/or crime. The course also provides students with guidance on how to locate sociological research through library resources and how to incorporate that research into their public sociology projects. Priority may be given to Criminology, Law and Society students.
SOC402H5: Understanding Human Action
This course addresses a fundamental question in the social sciences: "Why do people do what they do?" Readings and discussion focus on classic and current sociological approaches to understanding human action, giving attention to topics such as rational calculation, decisions, cultural processes, values, attitudes, identities, perception, interaction, situational influences, and automatic cognitive processing. A recurring theme is the tension between individual and situational explanations of behavior.
SOC403H5: Prisons, Punishment & Surveillance Across the Globe
This seminar course will focus on possible solutions for issues related to prisons, punishment and surveillance across the globe. Along with this surveillance you have a rise in prisons and other forms of state sponsored punishment.
SOC404H5: Special Topics in Social Policy
This lecture course will explore a particular area within Social Policy. Topics vary from year to year and are noted on the timetable once confirmed. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
SOC405H5: Surveillance in a Digital World
This course introduces students to theories of surveillance and risk in the digital era. The era of big data has given rise to smart policing, preventative security measures, and data driven solutions which are producing new knowledge about risk. It focuses on how surveillance is shifting institutional risk practices within law and criminal justice systems and how marginalized populations and particular geographical spaces are constructed as security risks.
SOC406H5: Vigilantism on the Margins of the State
This seminar examines the social problem of “vigilantism”. It focuses on how the act is defined in terms of scholarly works on punishment and policing, as well as mainstream popular opinion. The course looks at questions such as how vigilantism manifests in different geographic spaces (e.g. the “global north” and the “global south”), in rich and poor areas, and in different historical periods.
SOC407H5: Development and Social Change: The Case of China
This course introduces concepts, theories, and policies of development and underdevelopment. With China as a case, it focuses on social, economic, political, and cultural factors shaping the nature and meaning of social change.
SOC408H5: The Sociology of Anti-Muslim Racism
This reading-intensive course explores historical and contemporary manifestations of anti-Muslim racism through a transnational lens, while paying special attention to scholarship from and about Canada and the United States. Issues related to gender and sexuality, race, citizenship status, Orientalism, colonialism, and military intervention cut across the readings.
SOC409H5: Masculinity and the Internet
In this course we will take an in-depth look at a number of topics related broadly to masculinity and the internet, including such things as the “manosphere”, incels, and representations of masculinity on social media. These topics will be examined through the lens of the sociological literature on gender and masculinities. A recurring theme relates to the questions: “Is masculinity changing?” Students will be encouraged to critically examine and evaluate these topics and the sociological literature in multiple ways.
SOC410H5: Senior Seminar in Inequality
This course offers an in-depth examination of selected topics in the sociology of inequality.
SOC411H5: Senior Seminar in Social Institutions
This course offers an in-depth examination of selected topics in the sociology of social institutions.
SOC412H5: Senior Seminar in the Sociology of Work
This course offers an in-depth examination of selected topics in the sociology of work.
SOC413H5: Senior Seminar in the Sociology of Gender
This course offers an in-depth examination of selected topics in the sociology of gender.
SOC414H5: Senior Seminar in Political Sociology
This course offers an in-depth examination of selected topics in political sociology.
SOC415H5: Senior Seminar in Indigenous Studies
This course offers an in-depth examination of selected topics in Indigenous Studies.
SOC416H5: Senior Seminar in the Sociology of Culture
This course offers an in-depth examination of selected topics in the sociology of culture.
SOC417H5: Senior Seminar in the Sociology of Globalization
This course offers an in-depth examination of selected topics in the sociology of globalization.
SOC418H5: Senior Seminar in the Sociology of Health
This course offers an in-depth examination of selected topics in the sociology of health.
SOC419H5: Senior Seminar in Race and Ethnicity
This course offers an in-depth examination of selected topics in Race and Ethnicity.
SOC420H5: Senior Seminar in Punishment
Restricted to Criminology, Law and Society Specialists and Majors. Topics vary from year to year and are noted on the timetable once confirmed.
SOC421H5: Senior Seminar in Criminology
Restricted to Criminology, Law and Society Specialists and Major. Topics vary from year to year and are noted on the timetable once confirmed.
SOC423H5: Identity Crime
This interactive course concentrates on identity theft and fraud. It provides a critical examination of definitions of, sociological explanations for, and responses to identity crime. Identity crime is examined in the broader context of privacy, national security and organized crime.
SOC424H5: Law, Emotions and Justice
This course investigates emotional dynamics in law and justice. Topics will include public attitudes towards crime and punishment, the rights of victims in criminal proceedings, and restorative justice.
SOC425H5: Gender in Global Contexts
This lecture course looks at gender relations from a global perspective, focusing on how the social, political and economic aspects of globalization affect gender relations within various (local) contexts. Possible topics include gender and international migration, women's activism in local/global perspective and post-colonialism.
SOC426H5: Social Theory and Third Cinema
This course is an exploration of the societies of Asia, Africa, and Latin America through films created by directors living and working in the Global South. Each week, we’ll pair a social theory reading with a film made in the Global South to explore themes of colonialism, political economy, race, class, gender, power, and history.
SOC427H5: Politics, Violence, Democracy and Human Rights in Latin America
This course examines the transnational, national and local historical, social and political contexts that produce, and is in turn affected by, criminal, state and other forms of violence in Latin America, and the challenges that this poses for the functioning of Latin American democracies and for the everyday life of people in the region, whose human and civil rights are frequently violated. Examples of transnational factors examined may include the legacies of the Cold War, the impact of the U.S. war on drugs, and the circulation of ideas about punishment throughout the hemisphere. We also contextualize the presence of violence into the historical and contemporary political and social realities of particular Latin American countries.
SOC428H5: Health, Disability, and Crisis
This course will apply sociological theories of inequality, health, and disability to contemporary problems associated with economic and health crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic. This course integrates both quantitative and qualitative methods across substantive themes, providing an opportunity for students to link theories to data.
SOC429H5: Disability, Politics and Society
This course situates disability within a social and political context. We focus on how disability serves as a basis for exclusion from social, legal, political and economic institutions as well as the ways in which actors (policymakers, activists, etc.) have sought to undermine this system of discrimination. We will investigate a variety of related themes including the “social model of disability,” policy and judicial transformations, the evolution of the disability rights movement (including the use of legal mobilization), disability identity, intersectionality, and the future of disability politics and the law.
SOC430H5: Developments in Sociological Theory
This course presents a discussion and in-depth analysis of strands in contemporary sociological theory from the 1920s to the present day. Topics may include race and ethnicity, gender, class, post-colonial theory, queer theory, intersectionality, symbolic interactionism, new institutionalism, post-structuralism, and culture.
SOC431H5: Museums & Indigenous Peoples
This seminar in Indigenous Studies focuses on the evolving relationship between Indigenous peoples and museums. It explores changes to museum policy and practice, the repatriation of Indigenous bodies, objects, and knowledges, the development of Indigenous museums, and the contributions of Indigenous artists to a new museology.
SOC432H5: Contemporary Issues in Genocide and State Violence
This advanced lecture course will provide students with the analytical tools necessary to engage in deep analysis of contemporary genocides and state violence.
SOC433H5: Power and Cultural Politics
This lecture course will ask students to engage with classic and contemporary views on power and its relation to the social bases of politics and social movements.
SOC434H5: Race, Class, Gender in the Global South
Three of the most fundamental cleavages in the contemporary world-economy are those between whites and people of colour, men and women, and capital and labour. This seminar course focuses on these cleavages and analyzes each through both an historical and global south perspective.
SOC435H5: Sociology of Environmental Health
This course will examine environmental health with an emphasis on environmental justice, contested illness, and the politics of scientific knowledge production. We will study the politics of environmental health through case studies on activism in response to hazards, the tactics of corporate “product defense,” and the challenges of policy response.
SOC436H5: Colonies, Empires, Slavery & the Modern World
This course focuses on the origins, structure and role of modern colonialisms, empires, and slavery in the constitution of global modernity. Topics covered include the major debates about the legacy and ongoing effects of the various forms and types of colonialisms, empires, and slavery for the modern world.
SOC437H5: Mnidoo Mnising Indigenous Field School
This course operates within a nation-to-nation framework involving on-campus learning and a multi-day field component involving travel to First Nations communities. The land-based learning approach provides the opportunity to explore relationships to land, sovereignty, nationhood, rights, culture, resurgence, and resistance.
SOC438H5: Youth Gangs and Gang Policy
Youth gangs represent a key concern for academics, policymakers, law enforcement, and the public. This advanced level course explores the history, nature, and extent of contemporary youth gangs, with a focus on Canada and the United States. Course topics will include the origins of youth gangs, their impacts on individuals and communities, and the efficacy of policy responses.
SOC439Y5: Research Project in Sociology
This is a seminar course where students engage in an independent research project supervised by a faculty member in Sociology. Students develop a research proposal, conduct independent research, analyze data and present findings. Admission by academic merit. Preference given to eligible Sociology Specialists.
SOC440Y5: Research Project in Criminology, Law and Society
This is a seminar course where students pursue advanced research supervised by a faculty member in Criminology, Law and Society. Students develop a research proposal, conduct independent research, analyze data and present findings. Admission by academic merit. Preference given to eligible Criminology, Law and Society Specialists.
SOC442H5: Sociology of Scandals
This course examines scandals as sociological events, paying attention to why some misdeeds inflame public outrage and others seem to just flame out. Topics include political skullduggery, celebrity shenanigans, and corporate malfeasance.
SOC444H5: Advanced Topics in Sociology
An in-depth examination of selected topics in Sociology. Topics vary from year to year and are noted on the timetable once confirmed. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
SOC445H5: Advanced Topics in Sociology
An in-depth examination of selected topics in Sociology. Topics vary from year to year and are noted on the timetable once confirmed. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
SOC446H5: Advanced Topics in Criminology, Law and Society
An in-depth examination of selected topics in Criminology, Law and Society. Restricted to Criminology, Law and Society Specialists and Major. Topics vary from year to year and are noted on the timetable once confirmed. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
SOC447H5: Advanced Topics in Criminology, Law and Society
An in-depth examination of selected topics in Criminology, Law and Society. Restricted to Criminology, Law and Society Specialists and Major. Topics vary from year to year and are noted on the timetable once confirmed. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
SOC448H5: Advanced Topics in Criminology, Law and Society
An in-depth examination of selected topics in Criminology, Law and Society. Restricted to Criminology, Law and Society Specialists and Major. Topics vary from year to year and are noted on the timetable once confirmed. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L,S,T,P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
SOC450H5: Walls to Bridges: Carceral Seminar
Based on the Walls to Bridges Program model, this seminar course matches a group of University of Toronto Mississauga students ("outside" students) with an approximately equal number of incarcerated students ("inside" students) who study together as peers at an off-campus setting. Topics vary from term to term. All class sessions are held inside the institution (e.g., penitentiary, detention centre, halfway house, etc.). Inside and outside students work together on small teams to develop and present a final project. Interested students should submit an application to the Department of Sociology (see website for details), and an interview may be required. Preference given to eligible Criminology, Law and Society Specialists and Majors.
Note: Once students are accepted into this course a criminal record check (CPIC) may be required to access the offsite location for classes. Students are advised to schedule approximately seven hours for class time (to allow time sufficient time for travel, institution check-in and -out in addition to the seminar time).
SOC451H5: Settler Colonialism and Health
This course explores the pervasiveness of settler colonialism and the health outcomes it creates for Indigenous people and other marginalized populations. It introduces contemporary sociological and interdisciplinary approaches to understanding the relationship between settler colonialism and health outcomes more broadly while also highlighting strategies and possibilities for change.
SOC453H5: Hate Crime
This course introduces students to the field of hate crime studies and to many of the most pressing public debates about hate crime and responses to it. Hate crime has grown in importance to both academics and policy makers with the recent rise in hate crime and hate group activity in the last number of years. This course seeks to challenge, complicate and broaden understandings of hate crime by using hate crime as a site for thinking about larger questions concerning criminal justice, tolerance, individual rights and freedoms, and the nature of multicultural societies.
SOC454H5: Sociology of the Global South
This course examines the causes and consequences of empire, imperialism, and colonization to help better understand contemporary inequalities across the globe. The first part of the course focuses on theories of the Global South and the second part of the course applies those theories to the practice of social science research.
SOC455H5: Comparative Indigenous Politics
Using a comparative approach, this course explores the politics of Indigeneity in settler colonial contexts. It centers critical analyses of settler colonialism and decolonization, and focuses on examples from Canada, the USA, New Zealand, and Australia to examine the differences and similarities between Indigenous peoples and politics in these places.
SOC456H5: Senior Seminar in Law and Society
The course will examine substantive debates in law and society. Restricted to Criminology, Law and Society Specialists and Major. Topics vary from year to year and are noted on the timetable once confirmed.
SOC457H5: Sociology of Race and Ethnicity
This course offers an overview of some of the major theories and research programs in the sociology of race and ethnicity.
SOC458H5: Sociology of Environmental Health
This course will introduce students to contemporary sociological and interdisciplinary approaches to environmental health. We will focus on the politics of science, basic approaches to studying environmental health across fields, and place environmental health concerns in larger structural contexts. We will examine how social and environmental health inequalities intersect with structural racism and settler colonialism.
SOC459H5: Science, Technology and Society
The focus of this lecture course will be on the varied social contexts of the emergence, development and consequences of science and technology in the modern world. In addition to critical sociological perspectives on science and technology, possible topics could include genomics, reproductive technologies, surveillance, the internet and social media, domestic technology, warfare, nuclear technologies, etc.
SOC460H5: Migrant Labour
This lecture course will focus on the intersection of citizenship status and class by examining the position and experiences of various categories of migrant labour in North America, Europe and other regions. Migrant groups include those with temporary status who come to work for a specific time frame in a particular job, those with no status (the undocumented) who work mainly in an informal, unregulated economy, and immigrants with permanent resident status who work in a range of industries and occupations. We will read and write about theoretical and empirical work in the sociology of migration and related fields.
SOC463H5: The Sociology of Disasters
The modern world leans heavily on the assumption that organizations run smoothly, but often they do not and sometimes the consequences are disastrous. This course draws on a variety of sociological theories and explanatory frameworks to better understand how any why large scale disasters occur. The class will investigate high risk technologies, issues and problems related to organizational culture, deviance and misconduct, community dynamics and resilience, environmental justice, and social problems related to racialization, gender, class, and other inequalities.
SOC465H5: Climate Crisis and Society
In this course a variety of classical and contemporary sociological perspectives will be deployed to understand the social context, factors and consequences of climate change. Possible topics include the political economy of the environment, environmental refugees, environmental movements, media representations of climate change, the social context and consequences of fracking, the politics of global protocols on carbon emissions, climate justice and social inequality, etc.
SOC467H5: Peel Social Lab Seminar: Translating Research for the Wider Public
This is a seminar course where students work on data from the Peel Social Lab to produce various media to translate sociological findings for a broader audience.
SOC475H5: Sociology of Legal Careers
This course examines legal careers from the sociological perspective. As one of the most elite and influential professions, lawyers are key players in economic, political, and social life. This course traces the various careers of lawyers from their experiences in law school to their jobs in law firms, courts, and other professional settings. In so doing the course will also focus on structures of inequality, such as gender, race and class.
SOC480Y5: Internship in Sociology, Criminology, Law and Society
Through a part-time, unpaid, 200-hour internship, students apply sociological knowledge gained primarily through previous coursework. Students can seek internship opportunities at municipal social service departments or non-profit agencies providing social services, social movement or community-based organizations working for social change, courts or parole offices, for-profit workplaces, or other organizations. This experiential learning course also includes class meetings, written assignments and oral presentations, as well as an assessment by the internship employer. An application/interview may be required (see Department of Sociology website for details).
Note: International students should visit the International Education Centre to ensure they have the appropriate documentation required to work in Canada well before the start of the course/internship.
SOC485H5: Investigation through Study Abroad
An in-depth examination of selected topics in sociology as part of a UTM Study Abroad experience. Topics vary from year to year and are noted on the timetable once confirmed. During the international experience, students will collect data and observations to use as the basis for a final analytical project. As part of this course, students will have the option of participating in an international learning experience that will have an additional cost and application process. An interview may be required, with priority given to Sociology and Criminology, Law and Society Specialists and Majors.
SOC491H5: Independent Research in Sociology
This course is intended for Sociology Specialists and Majors who wish to explore a specific Sociology topic in depth. To enrol, a student must prepare a proposal form in consultation with a faculty supervisor and submit the approved form to the academic counsellor.
Note: Professors have discretion whether to take on an independent study; they are not required to serve as faculty supervisors.
SOC492H5: Independent Research in Sociology
This course is intended for Sociology Specialists and Majors who wish to explore a specific Sociology topic in depth. To enrol, a student must prepare a proposal form in consultation with a faculty supervisor and submit the approved form to the academic counsellor.
Note: Professors have discretion whether to take on an independent study; they are not required to serve as faculty supervisors.
SOC493H5: Independent Research in Criminology, Law and Society
This course is intended for Criminology, Law and Society Specialists and Majors who wish to explore a specific Criminology, Law and Society topic in depth. To enrol, a student must prepare a proposal form in consultation with a faculty supervisor and submit the approved form to the academic counsellor.
Note: Professors have discretion whether to take on an independent study; they are not required to serve as faculty supervisors.
SOC494H5: Independent Research in Criminology, Law and Society
This course is intended for Criminology, Law and Society Specialists and Majors who wish to explore a specific Criminology, Law and Society topic in depth. To enrol, a student must prepare a proposal form in consultation with a faculty supervisor and submit the approved form to the academic counsellor.
Note: Professors have discretion whether to take on an independent study; they are not required to serve as faculty supervisors.
SOC499H5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a rewarding opportunity for students in their fourth year to undertake relatively advanced work in the research project of a professor in return for SOC499H5 course credit. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
SOC499Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a rewarding opportunity for students in their fourth year to undertake relatively advanced work in the research project of a professor in return for SOC499Y5 course credit. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
SPA100Y5: Spanish for Beginners
Introduction to the Spanish language for beginning students; overview of basic grammatical structures, development of vocabulary and oral and written expression.
SPA219H5: Spanish for Heritage and Native Speakers I
This course is designed for heritage and native speakers with little to no knowledge of written Spanish who have basic to fluent speaking and comprehension abilities. The course provides foundations in understanding the Spanish grammatical system, opportunities to increase vocabulary and to develop writing skills and the ability to use the language across different contexts including in more formal situations. Students MUST complete the Spanish Language Assessment Questionnaire before enrolling in this course. Please visit https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/language-studies/language-course-assessment-questionnaires
SPA221H5: Intermediate Spanish I
This course is designed to enhance students' abilities to engage with native Spanish speakers in culturally appropriate ways, tackle problem-solving situations, express complex opinions, emotions, and wishes, and provide detailed descriptions and comparisons of authentic materials from the Spanish-speaking world. It offers an advanced Spanish curriculum tailored for non-native speakers, focusing on a thorough review of complex grammatical structures and intensive practice in both written and oral expression to improve overall proficiency.
SPA222H5: Intermediate Spanish II
This course is designed to advance students' abilities in narrating and describing events, focusing on the past, future, and basic present subjunctive tenses. Students will engage with more complex materials from Spanish-speaking cultures, allowing them to exchange detailed descriptions and comparisons. Through a thorough grammar review, students will deepen their understanding of Spanish structures and enhance their strategies for managing various communicative tasks in more sophisticated social situations. The course also incorporates reading authentic Spanish texts, with focused practice on expanding vocabulary and improving both oral and written expression. By the end of the course, students will have a strong command of advanced intermediate Spanish, preparing them for more complex language use and comprehension.
SPA235H5: Music and Dance in Hispanic Culture
This course will explore the heritage and the modern manifestations of some Latin American, Caribbean, and Spanish musical styles and their accompanied dance forms. This course highlights the historical evolution of several prominent genres of music and dance, the place of music and dance in modern culture and their contribution in national identity and shows how European colonization and the slave trade impact on indigenous sounds and rhythms. The course is organized thematically and geographically and will be taught in English. Students who take this course for Spanish Language Citation must complete written course work in Spanish. As part of this course, students may have the option of participating in an international learning experience that will have an additional cost and application process.
SPA259H5: Introduction to Hispanic Culture
Forms of cultural expression in Spain, Latin America and Spanish-speaking North America, with study of representative media, including literature, journalism, film, visual art, and the urban environment. Introduction to methods of cultural analysis.
SPA275H5: Latin American Cinema
A survey of Latin American cinema, analyzed within historical, social, political, and cultural contexts. Aesthetic and social forms and questions of identity will also be studied. Throughout the course, the cinema of various Spanish speaking nations, regions, and historical periods will be highlighted. The course is taught in English. Students who take this course for Spanish Language Citation must complete written course work in Spanish.
SPA305H5: Spanish for Business and Media
An intermediate level Spanish course focusing on topics and language related to professional and media spheres. Students will work with language appropriate for the workplace, newsprint, and online media, as well as financial and diplomatic institutions. Topics studied will include foreign affairs, business, advertisement, and the geopolitics of Spain, Latin and North America. Students will gain literacy and intercultural skills, as well as critical thinking skills through the study of workplace culture, newsprint and social media, current and historical political events. Writing practice may include letters, CVs, opinion pieces, as well as social media posts.
SPA319H5: Spanish for Heritage and Native Speakers II
This course is designed for heritage and native speakers with solid reading and writing abilities in Spanish as well as fluent speaking and listening skills. The course provides opportunities to develop a complex Spanish grammatical system as well as opportunities to increase vocabulary, and develop writing skills and the ability to use the language across different contexts including in more formal situations.
SPA321H5: Advanced Spanish I
This course is designed to enhance students' abilities to engage with native Spanish speakers in culturally appropriate ways, tackle problem-solving situations, express complex opinions, emotions, and wishes, and provide detailed descriptions and comparisons of authentic materials from the Spanish-speaking world. It offers an advanced Spanish curriculum tailored for non-native speakers, focusing on a thorough review of complex grammatical structures and intensive practice in both written and oral expression to improve overall proficiency.
SPA322H5: Advanced Spanish II
This course aims to deepen students' skills in interacting with native Spanish speakers in a culturally sensitive manner, addressing complex problem-solving scenarios, articulating nuanced opinions, emotions, and desires, and providing detailed descriptions and analyses of authentic materials from the Spanish-speaking world. It offers an advanced Spanish curriculum tailored for non-native speakers, focusing on a broad range of complex grammatical structures and intensive practice in both written and oral expression to enhance overall proficiency.
SPA323H5: Business Spanish
Practical uses of spoken and written Spanish for business contexts. This course builds on grammar and vocabulary knowledge already acquired at the intermediate level.
SPA390H5: Cross-cultural Communication and Pragmatics in the Spanish-speaking World
The course introduces students to the different ways in which speakers communicate across the diverse Spanish-speaking world. Students will analyze how culturally defined politeness, social norms, and speaker identities impact how language is used in diverse Spanish-speaking countries. Students will also explore, identify, and solve problems resulting from cultural differences between Spanish and other languages. Furthermore, students will develop pragmatic competence in Spanish and will compare variation in pragmatic norms among different Spanish-speaking communities.
SPA420H5: Advanced Topics on Spanish Grammar
Study of traditional topics of Spanish grammar from a linguistic perspective with the goal of improving students’ knowledge and usage of Spanish grammar and language understanding in general. Topics include (but are not limited to): word order variation patterns, subject types, the verbal system, and the Spanish copulas. This course employs a cross-linguistic approach, as some of these topics are discussed from a comparative perspective. This course is taught in Spanish.
SPA443H5: Studies in Spanish Linguistics: Pragmatics
This course introduces students to the discipline of linguistics through a focus on Spanish- speaking communities and the linguistic diversity amongst them. This advanced task-based course focuses on developing students’ pragmatic competence in Spanish, or the ability to use the language appropriately in different social contexts. To do so, students will analyze how culturally confined politeness norms, contextual elements, and speakers’ identities impact how language is used to carry out different speech acts such as requests, invitations, and apologies, among others, and will compare variation in pragmatic norms among different Spanish-speaking communities.
STA107H5: An Introduction to Probability and Modelling
Introduction to the theory of probability, with emphasis on the construction of discrete probability models for applications. After this course, students are expected to understand the concept of randomness and aspects of its mathematical representation. Topics include random variables, Venn diagrams, discrete probability distributions, expectation and variance, independence, conditional probability, applications such as queues.
STA220H5: The Practice of Statistics I
An introductory course in statistical concepts and methods, emphasizing exploratory data analysis for univariate and bivariate data, sampling and experimental designs, basis probability models, estimation and tests of hypothesis in one-sample and comparative two-sample studies. A statistical computing package is used but no prior computing experience is assumed.
STA221H5: The Practice of Statistics II
A sequel to STA220H5, emphasizing major methods of data analysis such as analysis of variance for one factor and multiple factor designs, regression models, categorical and non-parametric methods.
STA246H5: Computational Probability and Statistics
This course covers probability including its role in statistical and computational modeling. Topics include classical and computational perspectives on cumulative, mass and distribution functions, random variables, expectation, limiting results, the normal distribution. Computational topics include generating and sampling random numbers, combinatorial objects and probability functions for simulation and statistical analysis. Additional techniques include resampling, hypothesis testing, model fit and cross validation. IMPORTANT NOTE: STA246H5 will not be permitted as a pre-requisite for any other 200+ level STA courses. In addition, STA246H5 cannot count towards any program(s) in Mathematics or Applied Statistics. The course is intended only for students in Computer Science programs who will not need STA256H5 for other program requirements.
STA256H5: Probability and Statistics I
This course covers probability including its role in statistical modeling. Topics include probability distributions, expectation, discrete and continuous random variables and vectors, distribution functions, distributions of functions of random variables, limit theorems, the central limit theorem.
STA258H5: Statistics with Applied Probability
A survey of statistical methodology with emphasis on the relationship between data analysis and probability theory. Topics covered include descriptive statistics, limit theorems, sampling distribution, point and interval estimation, hypothesis testing, contingency tables and count data, simple linear regression. A statistical computer package will be used.
STA260H5: Probability and Statistics II
A sequel to STA256H5 introducing current statistical theory and methodology. Topics include: Sampling distributions, point estimation, confidence intervals, testing (Neyman-Pearson Theorem, uniformly most powerful test, likelihood ratio tests), unbiasedness, consistency, sufficiency, complete statistics, and exponential family; Fisher Information and the Cramer-Rao inequality; simple linear models.
STA302H5: Regression Analysis
Analysis of the multiple regression model by least squares; statistical properties of the least square analysis, including estimation of error; residual and regression sums of squares; distribution theory under normality of the observations; confidence regions and intervals; tests for normality; variance stabilizing transformations, multicolinearity, variable search methods.
STA304H5: Surveys, Sampling and Observational Data
The sample survey is a widely used technique for obtaining information about a large population at relatively small cost. Only probability samples can provide both an estimator and a measure of sampling error from the data itself. In addition to sampling error, non-sampling errors (refusals, not-at-home, lies, inaccuracies, etc.) are always present, and can produce serious biases. The course covers: design of surveys, sources of bias, randomized response surveys. Techniques of sampling; stratification, clustering, unequal probability selection. Sampling inference, estimates of population mean and variances, ratio estimation, observational data; correlation vs. causation, missing data, sources of bias.
STA305H5: Experimental Design
This course covers topics in the design and analysis of experiments. The topics covered include analysis of variance, randomization, confounding, block designs, factorial designs, orthogonal polynomials and response surface methods. Applications include agricultural experiments, laboratory experiments, and industrial experiments, including quality control techniques.
STA312H5: Topics in Statistics
Introduction to a topic of current interest in statistics. Content will vary from year to year. Computer packages are used. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L, T) from year to year, but will be between 36-48 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
STA313H5: Topics in Statistics
Introduction to a topic of current interest in statistics. Content will vary from year to year. Computer packages are used. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L, T) from year to year, but will be between 36-48 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
STA314H5: Introduction to Statistical Learning
A thorough introduction to the basic ideas in supervised statistical learning with a focus on regression and a brief introduction to classification. Methods covered will include multiple linear regression and its extensions, k-nn regression, variable selection and regularization via AIC,BIC, Ridge and lasso penalties, non-parametric methods including basis expansions, local regression and splines, generalized additive models, tree-based methods, bagging, boosting and random forests. Content will be discussed from a statistical angle, putting emphasis on uncertainty quantification and the impact of randomness in the data on the outcome of any learning procedure. A detailed discussion of the main statistical ideas behind crossvalidation, sample splitting and re-sampling methods will be given. Throughout the course, R will be used as software, a brief introduction will be given in the beginning.
STA315H5: Advanced Statistical Learning
The second part of the course will focus on basic ideas in classification problems including discriminant analysis and support vector machine, and unsupervised learning techniques such as clustering, principal component analysis, independent component analysis and multidimensional scaling. The course will also cover the modern statistics in the "big data" area. The high dimensional problems when p >> n and n >> p will be introduced. In addition, the students will be formed as groups to do data analysis projects on statistical machine learning and present their findings in class. This will prepare them for future careers in industry or academia.
STA348H5: Introduction to Stochastic Processes
Discrete Markov chains with a finite number of states, random walks, single-server queues, continuous-time Markov chains, Poisson processes, branching processes, birth and death process, M/M/n queues, Monte-Carlo simulation may be introduced.
STA360H5: Introduction to Bayesian Statistics
A thorough introduction to statistics from a Bayesian perspective. Methods covered will include: the rules of probability, including joint, marginal, and conditional probability; discrete and continuous random variables; discrete and continuous random variables; Bayesian inferences for means and proportions; the simple linear regression model analyzed in a Bayesian manner; and (time permitting) a brief introduction to numerical methods such as the Gibbs sampler. Throughout the course, R will be used as software, a brief introduction will be given in the beginning.
STA378H5: Statistics Research Project
Students explore a topic in statistics under the supervision of a faculty member. Interested students must consult with statistics faculty at least two months prior to registration, to determine the topic and scope.
STA380H5: Computational Statistics
Computational methods play a central role in modern statistics and machine learning. This course aims to give an overview of some of the computational techniques that are useful in statistics. Topics include methods of generating random variables, Monte Carlo integration and variance reduction, Monte Carlo methods in inference, bootstrap and jackknife, resampling application, permutation tests, probability density estimation, and optimization.
STA388H5: Topics in Statistics
Introduction to a topic of current interest in statistics. Content will vary from year to year. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L, T) from year to year, but will be between 36-48 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
STA398H5: Statistics Research Project
Students explore a topic in statistics under the supervision of a faculty member. Interested students must consult with statistics faculty at least two months prior to registration, to determine the topic and scope.
STA399H5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their third or fourth year to work in the research project of a professor in return for 399H course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Research Opportunity Program (ROP) for more details.
STA399Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their third or fourth year to work in the research project of a professor in return for 399Y course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Research Opportunity Program (ROP) for more details.
STA413H5: Estimation and Testing
This course covers advanced topics in probability and mathematical statistics. Topics include convergence in probability, convergence in distribution, and convergence with probability one, sufficiency, completeness, Rao-Blackwell and Lehmann-Sheffe theorems, and asymptotics.
STA431H5: Structural Equation Models
Random vectors and matrices, univariate and multivariate regression with measurement error, latent variables, model identification, the LISREL model, path analysis,confirmatory factor analysis, longitudinal data analysis,robustness of the normal model. A statistical computing package will be used.
STA437H5: Applied Multivariate Statistics
Practical techniques for the analysis of multivariate data; fundamental methods of data reduction with an introduction to underlying distribution theory; basic estimation and hypothesis testing for multivariate means and variances; regression coefficients; principal components and the partial multiple and canonical correlations; multivariate analysis of variance; profile analysis and curve fitting for repeated measurements; classification and the linear discriminant function. There will be extensive use of statistical computing packages.
STA441H5: Data Analysis
Vocabulary of data analysis, Tests of statistical significance, Principles of research design, Applications of statistical methods such as Multiple regression, Factorial ANOVA, Mixed linear models, Multivariate analysis of variance, Repeated measures, Logistic regression, Generalized linear models, Permutation tests and Bootstrapping.
STA457H5: Applied Time Series Analysis
This course develops the theory and methodology for the statistical analysis of time series. The methods may be broadly characterized as time domain methods based on correlation (Box-Jenkins), or frequency domain methods based on a decomposition of the series into cycles (Fourier). The course develops both of these to the point where they may be applied using standard statistical software. Model identification, estimation and forecasting are discussed. Applications in social and physical sciences are used.
STA478H5: Statistics Research Project
Students explore a topic in statistics under the supervision of a faculty member. Interested students must consult with statistics faculty at least two months prior to registration, to determine the topic and scope.
STA488H5: Topics in Statistics
Introduction to a topic of current interest in statistics. Content will vary from year to year.The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L, T) from year to year, but will be between 36-48 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
STA498H5: Statistics Research Project
Students explore a topic in statistics under the supervision of a faculty member. Interested students must consult with statistics faculty at least two months prior to registration, to determine the topic and scope.
STA499H5: Research Opportunity Program
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their third or fourth year to work in the research project of a professor in return for 499H course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Research Opportunity Program (ROP) for more details.
URD212Y5: Introduction to Urdu
This course is for students who have no background knowledge in Urdu. The course provides students with basic information about the Urdu language paying particular attention to literacy skills, i.e. reading and writing in Urdu. Students start by learning how to write and pronounce the alphabet and how to connect letters to form new words. Then, they learn basic vocabulary in Urdu in order to express basic ideas orally and in writing. By the end of the course, students should be able to write simple sentences to express basic information, and they should be able to conduct basic conversations in Urdu. All students MUST complete the Urdu Language Assessment Questionnaire (https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/language-studies/language-course-assessment…) before enrolling in URD course for the FIRST time.
URD312Y5: Intermediate Urdu
In this course, students will continue developing skills in spoken and written Urdu with the study of more complex grammar. Students will continue to build vocabulary and advance their ability in literary and colloquial forms of the language. Students who have not completed the listed prerequisite of URD212Y5 are REQUIRED to complete the Urdu Language Assessment Questionnaire (https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/language-studies/language-course-assessment…) by no later than August 29th. Late assessment submissions will not be accepted.
UTM010H5: LAUNCH: Business, Commerce and Management
These are informative weekly sessions taught by academically successful upper-year students enrolled in Business, Commerce and/or Management. Through engaging pedagogy you will develop strong study habits, discover the wide range of resources available to you as a student at UTM, and build a strong community with other first-year students in your academic discipline. LAUNCH is free to all new students. No credit is awarded for LAUNCH.
UTM020H5: LAUNCH: Science, Mathematics and Psychology
These are informative weekly sessions taught by academically successful upper-year students enrolled in Science, Mathematics, and/or Psychology. Through engaging pedagogy you will develop strong study habits, discover the wide range of resources available to you as a student at UTM, and build a strong community with other first-year students in your academic discipline. LAUNCH is free to all new students. No credit is awarded for LAUNCH.
UTM030H5: LAUNCH: Humanities and Social Science
These are informative weekly sessions taught by academically successful upper-year students enrolled in Humanities and/or Social Science. Through engaging pedagogy you will develop strong study habits, discover the wide range of resources available to you as a student at UTM, and build a strong community with other first-year students in your academic discipline. LAUNCH is free to all new students. No credit is awarded for LAUNCH.
UTM108H5: utmONE: Special Topics at the Intersection of Science and Social Science
This course brings together first-year students to explore a current topic or problem at the intersection of science and social science in a small-group environment. The focus of each section will depend on the instructor’s areas of expertise and will provide students with the opportunity to develop foundational learning strategies and sharpen their academic skills to support the transition into university. Students participate in a series of tutorials that will help them build foundational skills for academic success such as creating study plans, taking notes, reading critically, and developing a growth mindset.
UTM109H5: utmONE: Special Topics at the Intersection of Science and Humanities
This course brings together first-year students to explore a current topic or problem at the intersection of science and humanities in a small-group environment. The focus of each section will depend on the instructor’s areas of expertise and will provide students with the opportunity to develop foundational learning strategies and sharpen their academic skills to support the transition into university. Students participate in a series of tutorials that will help them build foundational skills for academic success such as creating study plans, taking notes, reading critically, and developing a growth mindset.
UTM110H5: utmONE: Special Topics at the Intersection of Social Science and Humanities
This course brings together first-year students to explore a current topic or problem at the intersection of social science and humanities in a small-group environment. The focus of each section will depend on the instructor’s areas of expertise and will provide students with the opportunity to develop foundational learning strategies and sharpen their academic skills to support the transition into university. Students participate in a series of tutorials that will help them build foundational skills for academic success such as creating study plans, taking notes, reading critically, and developing a growth mindset.
UTM111H5: utmONE: Tools of the Trade
This course is an introduction to the common problem-solving tools used in the sciences and social sciences. It is designed to address the fundamental skills needed for comprehension and effective communication in these areas. The skills being addressed may include critical analysis of texts (primary literature, review papers, textbooks), use of databases to gather, manipulate and visualize data; interpretation and presentation of data; information gathering and writing skills (lab reports, critical essays); and oral presentations. Specific examples will be drawn from a variety of current research topics in both the sciences and social sciences. Students participate in a series of tutorials that will help them build foundational skills for academic success such as creating study plans, taking notes, reading critically, and developing a growth mindset.
UTM115H5: utmONE: Communication Among Cultures
This course is an introduction to inter-cultural communication primarily in the areas of writing and speaking. It is designed to address fundamental skills related to language use in the academic setting by focusing on topics such as customs, attitudes, beliefs, and values. Specific examples will be drawn from real-life university situations, and multiple viewpoints on the nature of diversity in communication will be discussed. Students participate in a series of tutorials that will help them build foundational skills for academic success such as creating study plans, taking notes, reading critically, and developing a growth mindset.
UTM116H5: utmONE: Happiness
This course investigates the concept of happiness from its earliest articulations in the ancient world to today. Drawing on a wide array of sources in disciplines in the social sciences and humanities, we will investigate "happiness" across time and place. Throughout the semester students will reflect on the concept as it relates to their own lives as well as how it shapes society as a whole. As part of this course students will participate in a series of tutorials that will help them build foundations for academic success (such as understanding the value of higher education, developing a growth mindset, and finding passion).
UTM118H5: utmONE: Science of Learning
This interdisciplinary course encourages students to take ownership of their education through a focus on the process of learning how to learn and by cultivating the habits of mind for lifelong achievement and success. Students will explore theories of learning and research on the strategies students should employ to reach deep understanding. "Science of Learning" is designed to help students develop their critical thinking, university-level oral and written communication, critical reading, and other foundational academic skills. Students participate in a series of tutorials that will help them build foundational skills for academic success such as creating study plans, taking notes, reading critically, and developing a growth mindset.
UTM190H5: utmONE Scholars: Special Topics at the Intersection of Social Science and Humanities
This course brings together first-year students who have demonstrated outstanding academic achievement to explore a current topic or problem at the intersection of social science and humanities in a small-group environment. The focus of each section will depend on the instructor’s areas of expertise and will provide students with the opportunity to develop university-level research and critical thinking skills to support the transition into university.
Note: All interested students must apply and a select group of academically successful students will be accepted into utmONE Scholars. The application can be found here: https://uoft.me/utmone-scholars
UTM191H5: utmONE Scholars: Special Topics at the Intersection of Science and Social Science
This course brings together first-year students who have demonstrated outstanding academic achievement to explore a current topic or problem at the intersection of science and social science in a small-group environment. The focus of each section will depend on the instructor’s areas of expertise and will provide students with the opportunity to develop university-level research and critical thinking skills to support the transition into university.
Note: All interested students must apply and a select group of academically successful students will be accepted into utmONE Scholars. The application can be found here: https://uoft.me/utmone-scholars
UTM192H5: utmONE Scholars: Special Topics at the Intersection of Science and Humanities
This course brings together first-year students who have demonstrated outstanding academic achievement to explore a current topic or problem at the intersection of science and humanities in a small-group environment. The focus of each section will depend on the instructor’s areas of expertise and will provide students with the opportunity to develop university-level research and critical thinking skills to support the transition into university.
Note: All interested students must apply and a select group of academically successful students will be accepted into utmONE Scholars. The application can be found here: https://uoft.me/utmone-scholars
UTM193H5: utmONE Scholars: Nations Colliding?
This course investigates the complexity of our global interconnectedness through the lens of a substantive topic. Questions vary annually, but may include: Do all nations benefit equally from this increasing connectivity? How do global connections affect culture? What strategies offer long-term sustainability? What are the impacts of interconnectedness, both to individual citizens and to societies at large? Questions will be explored using a multidisciplinary approach.
Note: All interested students must apply and a select group of academically successful students will be accepted into utmONE Scholars. The application can be found here: https://uoft.me/utmone-scholars
UTM194H5: utmONE Scholars: Religion and Politics
This course aims to engage with the current political challenges that religion in its diverse manifestations poses to secular society and political systems. This seminar will encourage students to become more thoughtful and self-critical about how society responds socially and politically to these challenges in the 21st-century.
Note: All interested students must apply and a select group of academically successful students will be accepted into utmONE Scholars. The application can be found here: https://uoft.me/utmone-scholars
UTM195H5: utmONE Scholars: Curiosity and Control: Voyages of Discovery to North America
Students will investigate how both a curiosity for novelty and a desire for control motivated the so-called "Age of Discovery" and shaped the experiences of First Nations, Africans, and Europeans in medieval and early modern North America. With a focus on how people adapted to new environments, this course will provide opportunities for students to explore historical questions with contemporary resonance from the perspectives of both science and the humanities.
Note: All interested students must apply and a select group of academically successful students will be accepted into utmONE Scholars. The application can be found here: https://uoft.me/utmone-scholars
UTM196H5: utmONE Scholars: Building Global Justice
This course focuses on themes of social justice, global change, and conflict through the lens of multiple disciplines. Through the exploration of concepts such as class, race, gender, religion, culture, and power on a global level, students will be involved in assignments and small group activities that develop and refine key skills that contribute to student success in university courses.
Note: All interested students must apply and a select group of academically successful students will be accepted into utmONE Scholars. The application can be found here: https://uoft.me/utmone-scholars
UTM197H5: utmONE Scholars: Humans in Nature: Interactions and Impacts
This course will explore how humans have utilized the natural world and the impacts it has had on both the global environment and human societies. We will focus on topics such as human and natural history, conservation, sustainability, resource exploitation, domestication, GMOs, and our fascination with nature. The course will include a field walk in our campus environment.
VCC101H5: Introduction to Visual Culture
(Formerly CCT201H5/VCC201H5) Introduces the ways in which we use and understand images across the realms of art, advertising, mass media, and science, with examples drawn from painting, photography, film, television, and new media. Presents a diverse range of recent approaches to visual analysis and key theories of visual culture.
VCC205H5: Monsters
This course examines monster movies and television shows alongside readings from monster literature, comics, and critical essays. It considers the social significance of the monster in order to learn something about how the threat of the monster relates to historical anxieties concerning mass-media technologies, social deviance, and the hybrid forms of visual media culture that we typically associate with the era of 21st-century convergence culture but define the genre of monster media from its ancient beginnings.
VCC207H5: Urban Sites and Sounds
Introduces students to histories and theories of urban spaces emphasizing the modern city. Drawing from history, architecture, geography, and media studies, the course explores how urban change is evident in the spaces, forms, and sounds of the modern city. Case studies of specific urban environments depending on instructor's research emphasis.
VCC236H5: North American Consumer Culture: 1890-Present
Examines the history and theoretical treatments of mass consumerism in North American society. We will look at the relationship between the market and cultural politics, cultural production, and mass consumption. Specific topics include: the shift from mass production to mass consumption; the growth of department stores; the rise of advertising; the relationship of race, class, and gender to consumer capitalism; the development of product brands; and the emergence of global marketing.
VCC290H5: Topics in Visual Culture and Communication
An examination of a topic in Visual Culture. Topics vary from year to year; the content in any given year depends on the instructor. This will be a lecture course.
VCC292H5: Topics in Visual Culture and Communication
An in-depth examination of topics in visual and media culture, from both historical and contemporary perspectives. Topics vary from year to year, and the content in any given year depends upon the instructor.
VCC304H5: Visual Culture and the Politics of Identity
Examines the ways in which social-cultural identities are constructed by, and at times disrupt, various visual technologies, logics, and representational strategies. Issues and problems to be addressed include nationality, stereotyping, invisibility, and surveillance. Course materials will be drawn from modern and contemporary art and visual culture, and will also include readings from the fields of feminism, race studies, queer theory, and performance studies.
VCC306H5: Visual Culture and Colonialism
Many of our most popular and influential image technologies, visual forms, and ways of thinking about images first developed in the second half of the 19th century: the heyday of European colonialism. This course re-examines the visual culture of modernity in the light of this deeply colonial genealogy, through forms such as photography, colour printing, film, exhibitions, postcards, maps, scientific illustrations, and the body as image.
VCC308H5: Activism in Visual and Media Culture
This course will examine political and social activism in visual and media culture focusing on the role that visual representation has played in social movements and how artists/activists have employed visual media to achieve specific ends that challenge and resist dominant visual representations and political formations.
VCC309H5: Society and Spectacle
Spectacles have been vehicles of social and political power at varying historical moments and locations. Since Guy Debord's Society of the Spectacle was published in 1967 the term has been deployed as a critical concept for thinking about visual culture. This course takes up a number of historical case studies in order to locate and situate phenomena associated with spectacle and spectacular visual entertainments. Topics may include the role of images in mediating contemporary social relations and the connection between spectacle and violence.
VCC334H5: Media Realities
This course examines the relationship between mass media technologies and the idea of "reality" with an emphasis on the electronic and digital forms that dominate the discourse of "reality" in contemporary media culture, television, and the Internet. It will explore such questions as: How do shifting aesthetic conventions of realism, "reality" programming, and documentary inflect both theoretical and historical understandings of what constitutes reality? And how do our ideas of media technology inform these conventions and the understandings they produce?
VCC338H5: Picturing the Suburbs
This course considers how images of suburbia circulate between two interrelated but often counter-posed realms of visual culture: the popular genres of film, television, and new media entertainment and the iconography of "high" art practices such as painting, photography, and avant-garde film. In the process it addresses such fundamental issues as the relation between art and mass production, the aesthetics of private and public space, and the role that visual media play in constructing the socio-political space of the built environment.
VCC360H5: South Asian Visual Culture
Popular imagery from the Indian subcontinent is now increasingly visible in the global arena, particularly via the West's discovery of 'Bollywood.' But what have these images meant to South Asians themselves, what are their histories, what traditions and practices do they draw on? This course introduces key concepts for understanding South Asian visual culture and its multifaceted postcolonial modernity. Images examined include popular prints, film, photography, comic books, urban environments, advertisements, crafts, art, propaganda, rituals, television, and the internet.
VCC390H5: Topics in Visual Culture and Communication
An in-depth examination of topics in visual and media culture, from both historical and contemporary perspectives. Topics vary from year to year, and the content in any given year depends upon the instructor.
VCC392H5: Topics in Visual Culture and Communication
An in-depth examination of topics in visual and media culture, from both historical and contemporary perspectives. Topics vary from year to year, and the content in any given year depends upon the instructor.
VCC394H5: Comics and Visual Culture
Examines comics and graphic novels and their histories in print and digital media, including production, dissemination, and reception. Develops a foundational understanding of the visual grammar of comics and addresses theories of narrative.
VCC397H5: History of Communication Design
This course examines the historical development of communication design from the industrial revolution to the present. Focuses on the emergence of design theory in changing economic, technological, and social contexts.
VCC399Y5: Research Opportunity Program (ROP)
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for third or higher year students who have developed some knowledge of visual culture and communication to work on the research project of a professor in return for 399Y course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, enhance their research skills, and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter session on the ROP website in mid-February and students are invited to apply at that time. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
VCC400H5: Advanced Project
This course is designed to serve as a capstone course for VCC specialists. Students engage with advanced readings in the field and refine skills in critical analysis of selected topics in VCC. A major focus is the design and implementation of an advanced research project selected in consultation with an instructor.
VCC405H5: Individual Project
A research project carried out under the supervision of a faculty member. Students will carry out a research project on a selected topic related to VCC. Students must obtain signed permission from the faculty member they would like to have as their supervisor.
VCC406H5: Post-Colonialism and the Image
How has the legacy of modern colonialism across the globe impacted how we see images, how we think about them, and how we make them? And how do images perpetuate or overturn the legacy of colonial power relations? This course introduces students to the key concepts and debates in post-colonial theory as they relate to visual studies.
VCC407H5: Architectures of Vision
Based upon Michel Foucault's work on modern architectures of surveillance, control, and discipline, this course examines such modern and contemporary architectural-visual formations as the museum, domestic interior, cinema, and the residential and commercial skyscraper. Ways in which these sites have come to define notions of citizenship, privacy and publicity, and community will be of particular focus and concern.
VCC409H5: Capital, Spectacle, War
This course investigates the conjunction of contemporary global capitalism, spectacle, and militarized neo-liberal governmentality in order to develop a critical understanding of the inter-related forces that constitute the most current and politically and ethically pressing events in the world today. These may include the war on terror, the disaster film genre, technologies of surveillance, politics of humiliation and scandal, and theological and financial speculation and visions of the future. Readings will draw upon both historical and in many cases the latest work in political theory, cinema and new media studies, critical philosophy, and religious studies.
VCC410H5: The Collective Afterlife of Things
This fourth-year interdisciplinary seminar provides students with an opportunity to examine theories of art and artistic practice in the context of contemporary visual culture, environmental devastation, global warming, climate injustice, and species extinction. Readings are drawn from eco-criticism and philosophy, visual studies and political theory, accompanied by contemporary art, film, literature in order to critically examine the concepts of “collective,” “afterlife,” and “things.”
VCC411H5: Real Space to Cyberspace
This course examines the re-conception of traditional understandings of architecture and space -- public and private -- brought about by digital technologies. Notions of space affect our conceptions of political, social and inner life; this course investigates the impact of hyperspace and virtual reality on real and imagined space in a global context.
VCC415H5: Theory and Criticism of New Media
Introduces a variety of approaches for interpreting, criticizing, evaluating, and theorizing digital media with a particular emphasis on visual cultural phenomena including augmented reality and virtual reality. Examines how the thinking of new media is conditioned and altered via major theoretical models.
VCC419H5: Animals in Visual Culture
In 1977 the influential critic John Berger wrote an essay called “Why Look at Animals?” which framed humans’ relationship with animals as a matter of vision or, as we now say, of visual culture. More recently the humanities have been described as taking an “animal turn,” influenced by posthumanist thought and the idea that we are living in a period of unprecedented human impact on the planet, commonly (yet controversially) known as the Anthropocene. How has visual culture studies developed on or challenged Berger’s insights since he wrote that essay? Building on critiques of the category of “nature” as something that somehow pre-exists “culture” and is outside of it, which in turn challenges the terms of our distinctions between humans and animals, how does recent scholarship approach the place of images and vision in human-animal relations, and indeed the very idea of the animal itself?
This seminar investigates these questions through texts that discuss key theoretical questions and examine representations of animals across a variety of media, species, historical or geographical contexts, and disciplinary approaches.
VCC420H5: The Visual Culture of Automobility
Cars are the quintessential mass-produced commodities, and as such are central to the spread of capitalism and to the forms, spaces, affects, and imaginaries of modernity, postmodernity and beyond. Drawing on anthropology, geography, architectural theory and cinema studies as well as visual studies, art history and critical theory, this seminar examines the visual cultures of automobility over a range of historical periods and cultural contexts.
VCC425H5: Art and Media Culture
Explores intersections of art, pop culture and mass media in Europe and North America between World War II and 1970. Reviews how the definition of art moved into an expanded field of media culture.
VCC427H5: Participatory Media
In order to explore the complex social and political issues surrounding the discourse of democratic participation in today's "new media" culture, this course provides a historical and theoretical survey of "old" media technologies that embrace the aesthetics of participation, running from popular theatre forms (including vaudeville and Chautauqua) to call-in radio shows, avant-garde and novelty films, activist video art, and the audience-based talk and game shows of fifties television that most directly prefigure the participatory genres of contemporary media programming.
VCC490H5: Topics in Visual Culture and Communication
An in-depth examination of topics in visual and media culture, from both historical and contemporary perspectives. Topics vary from year to year, and the content in any given year depends upon the instructor.
VCC492H5: Topics in Visual Culture and Communication
An in-depth examination of topics in visual and media culture, from both historical and contemporary perspectives. Topics vary from year to year, and the content in any given year depends upon the instructor.
VST410H5: Internship in Visual Studies
This internship course provides an opportunity for students to gain practical experience at an institution or business closely related to the arts and to visual studies. This is especially tailored for mature and self-disciplined students in their final year of study, who are ready to apply knowledge acquired in previous courses and are planning a career in the arts and cultural sector. Students registered in any DVS program are eligible to apply. Students work closely with the DVS internship coordinator to establish suitability. Regular updates and a final report and presentation will be required. The final grade for the course will be based on these, along with the assessment of the employer.
VST410Y5: Internship in Visual Studies
This internship course provides an opportunity for students to gain practical experience at an institution or business closely related to the arts and to visual studies. This is especially tailored for mature and self-disciplined students in their final year of study, who are ready to apply knowledge acquired in previous courses and are planning a career in the arts and cultural sector. Students registered in any DVS program are eligible to apply. Students work closely with the DVS internship coordinator to establish suitability. Regular updates and a final report and presentation will be required. The final grade for the course will be based on these, along with the assessment of the employer.
WGS101H5: Introduction to Women and Gender Studies
This foundation course introduces the core ideas students will explore throughout their studies in Women and Gender Studies. It immerses students in a highly participatory and provocative encounter with history, social theory, politics, policy, art and culture seen through a gender lens. It provides an interdisciplinary overview of the historical 'waves' of women's movements for equality in a global context and background to the development of Women/Gender Studies as a site of learning and feminist inquiry.
WGS102H5: Reading and Writing in Women and Gender Studies
Using key feminist texts, this course advances students thinking, reading and writing in the discipline of Women and Gender Studies. The emphasis is placed on the development and application of interdisciplinary skills in the interpretation, analysis, criticism, and advocacy of ideas encountered in Women and Gender Studies.
WGS200Y5: Theories in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
This course provides an opportunity to engage in an in-depth examination of specialized and scholarly work within women, gender, and sexuality studies with a focus on the diverse and multidisciplinary expressions of feminist thought from the perspective of postcolonial, transnational, intersectional, diasporic, Black feminist, indigenous, and queer theories. This course situates the importance of praxis, the relationship between theory and social practice, to women, gender, and sexuality studies. Students will engage throughout with the relationship between theories of gender and sexuality as they relate to, and are inseparable from, an understanding of race and racial formations. It incorporates study of the themes and debates concerning the socially constructed categories of gender and sexuality in historical and contemporary contexts.
WGS202H5: Fundamentals of Research in Women and Gender Studies
This interdisciplinary course focuses on the visions and methods that feminist scholars use to study women's and gender issues within and across a range of traditional disciplines. The course explores feminist epistemologies and research methods to understand how to carry out feminist research. We will focus on how feminist scholars challenge dominant theories of knowledge and the major methodologies employed in the social sciences and humanities.
WGS205H5: Introduction to Feminism and Popular Culture
This course explores the forms and functions of popular culture and its representation and understanding of the social category of women. It examines specific media forms including, but not limited to, film, song, visual arts, music, video, television, advertising and new media forms. It critically analyzes the impact of these portrayals on women in society while examining the cultural constructions of race, sexuality, class and ability.
WGS210H5: Women, Gender and Labour
This course covers a wide range of issues relating to female participation in public and private sectors of the today's Canadian workforce. It examines the relevance of education, perceptions, sexuality and family issues. Services and infrastructure, as well as collective bargaining are also addressed.
WGS211H5: Gender, Technology and the Body
This course engages with feminist theories of embodiment to explore the body’s intersections with gender and technology. Drawing on the interdisciplinary fields of feminist studies, science and technology studies and disability studies, it explores a range of technological and scientific policies and processes that shape and affect bodies in transnational contexts.
WGS215H5: Introduction to Women, Public Policy and the Law
This course introduces students to women's position in Canada as political actors and provides gender-based analysis in relation to public policy and law in Canada. Students will study women's historical participation in and exclusion from policy decision-making processes, and evaluate the impact of feminism and women's activism on Canadian public policies. Using intersectional framework, the course will also examine different ways in which public policies can be made more responsive to gender and diversity concerns as well as the role public policy can play in overcoming gender inequalities. We will investigate key historical changes in public policies affecting Canadian women in such areas as family, workplace, education, poverty-welfare, sexuality and reproductive laws, immigration and refugee laws, and global issues. The course concludes with women's achievements in this area.
WGS250H5: Women in Families
This course studies how the notion of family is conceptualized and organized transnationally and historically and examines the multiple familiar roles of women in diverse contexts.
WGS299Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This courses provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their second year to work in the research project of a professor in return for 299Y course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall-winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
WGS301H5: Representing Islam
The course explores historical and contemporary debates regarding the construction of gender in Islam. It examines historic and literary representations, ethnographic narratives, legal and human rights discourses, the politics of veiling, and Islamic feminism. This course situates Muslim women as complex, multidimensional actors engaged in knowledge production and political and feminist struggles, as opposed to the static, victim-centered, Orientalist images that have regained currency in the representation of Muslim women in the post 9/11 era.
WGS325H5: Sustainability: Society and Feminist Praxis
Sustainability considers humanity’s relationship to the environment. It reflects on a feminist politic of care and the specific ways people are affected along lines of race, gender, class, sexuality and citizenship. It explores how feminist scholarship seeks to direct policy change and respond to ecological and climatic crises.
WGS335H5: Women, Migration and Diaspora
This course examines the process of migration to Canada from a gender perspective, noting the interplay between structural impediments and women's own agency. Historical perspectives on migration and government policy, and on ways women have rebuilt lives and shaped communities.
WGS336H5: Political Aesthetics and Feminist Representation
This course engages with feminist theoretical models and approaches to examine the ways in which the “body” has been constructed, enacted, and embodied through aesthetic forms like photography, cinema, music, performance, film and to understand how women, queer, and racialized artists use aesthetics as a response to social and political crises. This course considers what constitutes the relationship between the political and the aesthetic and approaches aesthetics as important sites of ideological and political tension.
WGS337H5: Special Topics in Women and Gender Studies
A special topic by guest instructor. Topics vary from year to year. Visit the Departmental web site at Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies for further information.
WGS340H5: Black Feminisms: Diasporic Conversations on Theory and Practice
This course examines how Black Feminisms are theorized, produced and practiced, by predominantly Black women scholars, activists and cultural producers located in the diaspora - Canada, the United States and the Caribbean.
WGS341H5: Black Queer Cinema and Visual Culture
This course introduces students to LGBTIQ themed films and visual culture from Africa and the diaspora. It analyzes gender and sexuality from the perspective of black/African filmmakers, visual artists, and theorists.
WGS343H5: The Montreal Experience: Sex and Gender in la Cité
This course examines how gender and sexuality intersect with factors such as nationhood, race, language, politics, religion, geography, and the arts in Quebec. After six classroom sessions, the class will travel to Montreal for 4-5 days, where they will visit museums, cultural institutions and attend guest lectures at various institutions. This experiential learning opportunity allows students to engage in deeper learning to see the issues and histories they have been studying come to life. Ancillary fees apply for this course.
WGS345H5: Genealogies of South Asian Feminisms
This course examines the histories of activism for and by women in South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka) from the colonial period to the present. Topics include colonialism, the Partition of 1947, war, religion, development, labour, nationalism, and the family/reproductive rights.
WGS347H5: Indigenous Feminisms and Decolonization
This course explores themes related to Indigenous feminist scholarship and activism in North America. The course centres on how Indigenous women engage in decolonial practices as a response to histories of colonialism and genocide. Themes include status and tribal nations; oral history and narrative; violence and resistance, knowledge construction and pedagogy, community, self-governance and freedom.
WGS348H5: Sex, Gender, and the Environment
This course discusses, historicizes, and theorizes the undeniable connection between the health of our bodies and the health of our planet. This course engages with Indigenous feminisms, Black feminisms, and queer/decolonial/anticolonial thought to build a response to historic and ongoing colonial, gender-based, and environmental violence through grounded justice practices.
WGS350H5: Critical Race Theory in Women and Gender Studies
This course's central focus is an examination of the way race and gender operate together in structuring social inequality. It offers the analytical tools for exploring the interconnections between race and gender, along with other systems of domination, and incorporates perspectives from women of colour and from women in the global "South."
WGS351H5: Gender, Race, and Surveillance
From forced sterilization and sex-selective abortion, to selfies, prisons, and biosecurity, this course conceptualizes suspicion and technologies of surveillance in transnational perspectives. Informed by a range of interdisciplinary scholarship, namely critical transnational feminist and Black feminist texts, it interrogates how surveillance has long enacted racialized, gendered, and biopolitical injustices.
WGS353H5: Theories of Masculinity
Working with gender studies' theories, this course draws on social and cultural constructions and practices to offer a complex reading of masculinities. It explores contemporary debates of the ways in which masculinities have been theorized and experienced in practices and identity formation.
WGS354H5: Gender, Sexuality and Sport
This course explores how gender, sexuality and other intersectional identity markers work within and against structures of privilege and oppression in the world of sport. It takes up topics and themes that inform popular culture and influence the construction of social norms.
WGS355H5: Wired Women: Gender, Cyberspace and New Information Technology
The course examines how computer technologies facilitate women's participation in cyberspace and how women define and construct their involvement. It studies the simultaneous generation of new modalities of empowerment and disempowerment including language, role-playing, communication, gaming, and networking and conduits for sex trafficking, harassment and other forums of exploitation.
WGS365H5: Gender, Justice and the Law
This course discusses the construction and representation of women in Canadian and International law. It analyzes specific contexts and historical issues including employment, sexuality, reproduction, deviance and a variety of justice theories relating to gender.
WGS366H5: Women and Psychology
An interdisciplinary analysis of the relationship of women to a variety of psychological and psychoanalytical theories and practices. Topics include gender development, stereotyping and gender roles, the impact of gender on intimate relationships, women and the psychological establishment, women's mental health issues and feminist approaches to psychoanalysis.
WGS367H5: Women and Health
Feminist theories and frameworks examining the interconnections between women, health and biomedicine in North America and transnationally.
WGS368H5: Women in World Cultures
Examines the diversity and shared experiences of women in western and non-western societies. This is primarily a history course, supplemented with some contemporary perspectives. It compares women in diverse economic, cultural and religious settings. As part of this course, students may have the option of participating in an international learning experience that will have an additional cost and application process.
WGS369H5: Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics
Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (S.T.E.M.) analyzes how society, culture, education, and intersectional power relationships shape women’s lives and their career choices and studies the underlying gendered issues in these professions.
WGS369Y5: Gender, Colonialism and Postcolonialism
An examination of the complexities and the processes of colonialism/postcolonialism. Emphasis is placed on writings by feminists in the Global South, and the diaspora, to explore how subordination was forged and resisted in specific colonial and postcolonial settings.
WGS370H5: On Love: Gender, Sexuality, Identity
This course considers the construction and mobilization of the gendered, sexed and sexualized subject within its historical, cultural and geographical contexts and seeks to understand the role of love in the construction of gendered identity and sexuality. Through its examination of texts on love, passion and desire, it investigates the lives and treatment of selected women in feminist scholarship in order to think through how ideas about race, class, sexuality, desire and danger are mediated in and through the body.
WGS372H5: Theories of Sexuality
This course offers a critical overview of contemporary theories of sexuality, focusing on transnational discussions by feminists and queer theorists.
WGS373H5: Gender, Violence and Resistance
This course will focus on how gender and violence shapes and impacts the lives of women and LGBT persons. The course will explore the concept of gender and the myriad of ways in which it has been shaped by historical, and contextual relations of power and privilege. The course will explore how scholars in the feminist/women's movement have defined the concept of violence as it impacts women and girls.
WGS375H5: The Aesthetics of Sexuality
What is the relationship between aesthetic form and sexuality? Drawing on theories and methods from feminist and sexuality studies, this course engages this question to understand the emergence of queer aesthetics as a response to social and political crisis, whilst comprehending how LGBTIQ+ artists create livable worlds by imagining otherwise.
WGS410H5: Independent Project in Study of Women & Gender
An opportunity to carry out an extended research project under the supervision of a faculty member. A proposal must be presented to the faculty member and consent obtained before the end of the July registration period.
WGS411Y5: Independent Project in Study of Women & Gender
An opportunity to carry out an extended research project under the supervision of a faculty member. A proposal must be presented to the faculty member and consent obtained before the end of the July registration.
WGS415H5: Black Feminist Performance in Popular Culture and Everyday Life
This course provides students with an understanding of how Black Feminist Performance is read, interpreted and experienced in popular culture and everyday life. The course focuses on texts and cultural work produced by feminist scholars, critics and artists who engage with race, gender and sexuality across multiple sites.
WGS418H5: Feminist Cultural Studies of Biomedicine
From vaccines and contraception, to erectile dysfunction drugs and clinical trials, biomedicine and biotechnologies are increasingly powerful and transformative modalities transnationally. Incorporating methods from feminist postcolonial, cultural, media and technoscience studies, this course examines biomedicine by critically attending to its intersections with gender, race, sexuality, colonialism, capitalism and culture.
WGS419H5: Gender and Disability
A critical interdisciplinary investigation of how gender impacts on central topics in disability studies: the normalized body and cultural representations; sexuality; violence; the cognitive and social roles of medicine; transnational perspectives on disability; and disability rights and issues of social justice including the experience of people with disabilities and responses of resistance.
WGS420H5: Engendering Human Rights
This seminar analyzes human rights responses to particular gendered sites of historical repression including examples of genocide, torture and war. It includes reactions generated from government and international organizations as well as remedies developed by victims/survivors. As part of this course, students may have the option of participating in an international learning experience that will have an additional cost and application process.
WGS421H5: Engendering Ethics
This course situates feminist ethics within the context of Western moral theories, and will consider the challenges that have been posed to this tradition from careful consideration of the category of women's experience. It will examine foundational texts in the history of ethics as well as more recent feminist interventions in such paradigms. The course complements the study of the theoretical texts with analysis and discussion of contemporary social and political issues pertaining to gendered selves.
WGS425H5: Decolonial Feminist Archival Practices
This course challenges the notion of the archives as institutions and repositories of historical truths. It develops students’ archival analytical skills using critical feminist intersectional, decolonial, diasporic, and queer approaches. Students learn to reimagine and rethink archival spaces.
WGS430H5: Diasporic Sexualities
What can diaspora studies teach us about sexuality studies? And, what can sexuality studies teach us about diaspora studies? This class examines the relationship between diaspora studies, sexuality studies, and feminist studies by focusing on how diasporic movements of bodies have altered and transformed modern conceptualizations of gender and sexuality. It will investigate how diasporic subjects negotiate their relationship to constructs of home and (un)belonging.
WGS434H5: Special Topics in Women & Gender Studies
A special topic by a guest instructor. Topics vary from year to year. Visit the Departmental web site at Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies for further information.
WGS435Y5: Women and Gender Studies Practicum
The practicum allows advanced WGS students to combine theory and practice through part-time unpaid placement with a community agency, government body, educational or social change organization.
WGS455H5: Queer Theory
This course examines the theories, histories and experiences of 'queer' in Canada and transnationally. It incorporates the diversity of emergent cultural expressions of LGBTQ sexuality understood beyond definitions of social identities.
WGS470H5: Politicizing Culture: Pop Feminism and Representation
This course examines the intricate relationships among feminism, culture, power and representation. Major themes include: the construction of gendered, sexualized, and racialized subjectivities; ideologies and the media; bio-and communication technologies; neoliberalism and neocolonialism; and counter interpretations, reclamations, and remixes of hegemonic cultural forms.
WGS497Y5: Independent Reading
Student-initiated project of reading and research, supervised by a member of the Department. Primarily intended for students in a Major program. After obtaining a supervisor, a student must apply to the Department of Historical Studies. A maximum of 1.0 credit in a reading course is permitted.
WRI173H5: Creative Non-Fiction
This course is an introduction to creative nonfiction as both a genre and a methodological tool for a variety of fields. It explores creative narrative approaches by professional writers in the form of journalism, documentary, ethnography, memoir, and narrative essay. This course also serves to begin and/or strengthen students’ own writing practice through craft-oriented workshops. Students explore ideas about product and process, form and meaning. Students will experiment with syntactic structures to explore how the form of language serves, or fails to serve, intention and the expression of meaning that may be understood and interpreted by others.
WRI225H5: Subcultures, Communities, Writing
Writing communication is a social act that both shapes and is shaped by community. Students in this course develop a narrative portfolio based on research into the experiences of individuals within a community that interests them. The course aims to enhance students’ storytelling by incorporating aspects of community such as unwritten rules, community language and nomenclature, rituals, history, ironic juxtaposition, and profiles of community members. Readings include a mix of student-authored and contemporary professional works.
WRI227H5: Social Media and Content Creation
Examines theory and offers practice in creating content for Social Media. The course explores the growth of the Web, from information gathering to interactive and cooperative information/opinion dissemination. Students will critically examine the rhetorical practices of Social Media users and how these practices currently shape communications. Students will create and maintain individual content creation projects.
WRI273H5: Specialized Prose
Examines theory and offers practice in nonfiction narrative with a specialized purpose. Students will explore conceptions of genre and the way genre shapes, and is shaped by, the social context of communications.
WRI291H5: Introduction to Journalism
This course provides an introduction to journalism and examines journalism’s role in a democratic society. Students learn the fundamentals of journalistic writing, with a focus on news and reporting. The course examines news formats and styles, sources, interviews, research, structure, and other fundamentals. The course functions as a newsroom, with students producing several reported articles throughout the term, and includes guest talks and workshops with practicing journalists.
WRI292H5: Research and Storytelling
In this course, students design and carry out writing through a series of research techniques. Students learn to select and evaluate expert and scientific information from primary sources and produce content for an array of different media. A critical reading program exposes students to research-based writing. Assignments are aimed at developing professional skills across different forms and topics.
WRI293H5: Introduction to Technical Communication
Introduction to Technical Communication serves as an introduction to the academic and professional fields of technical writing and communication. It explores strategies for analyzing organizational contexts, including professional audiences, professional purposes for writing, and organizational cultures. Assignments will build skills in technical writing, document design, documentation, accessibility, and ethical considerations for communication in professional settings.
WRI299H5: Research Opportunity Program (ROP)
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their second year to work in the research project of a professor in return for 299H course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
WRI299Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This courses provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their second year to work in the research project of a professor in return for 299Y course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
WRI306H5: Writing for the Academic Sciences
Examines conventions and standard practices when scientists write for other scientists in academic science journals, in conference and poster presentations, and in grant applications. This course focuses on presenting primary and secondary research. Humanities and social science students will gain specialized skills in technical writing and editing. Science students will learn the writing practices expected in professional labs and research groups. Students will present an article-length paper presenting primary research findings and a conference poster presenting the same findings to a scientific audience.
WRI307H5: Writing about Science
Examines the best practices of science writers and journalists who, based on research published in science journals, communicate scientific information to an educated audience which lacks specialized training. Science students will learn techniques for educating and informing public audiences. Humanities and social science students will learn to access and present current scientific information in engaging narrative. This course examines scientific writing and journalistic writing about science.
WRI310H5: Social and Professional Languages
Examines language by approaching it through its social users -- ethnic groups, genders, and social classes -- and its contextualized usages -- the languages of publishing, advertising, law, technical communications, academe and the electronic media. The course explores the functions of these languages and the roles of such forces as dictionaries, social change, and new communications technologies in the evolution of these languages.
WRI320H5: History and Writing
Examines written history as rhetoric and considers various conceptions of history and procedures for historical research and writing with reference to a range for models from Thucydides to contemporary writers of specialized and local histories. Students will conceptualize, design, and carry out primary source historical research to produce original history using locally available sources and materials.
WRI330H5: Oral Rhetoric
Examines the rhetoric of speech drawing on theorists from Plato to Havelock to Ong, and considers implications of "great leap models" that present orality and literacy on a continuum. This course considers a range of oral practices from informal to formal, and from spontaneous to research-based and examines a range of rhetorical modes: dialogue, storytelling, reporting, debate and presentational address. Significant course time will be devoted to students' oral performance, both individual and team-based.
WRI340H5: Critical Reading and Listening
This course approaches reading and listening as time-bound processes by which we sense and make sense of the world around us. Reading and listening are not to be reduced merely to how we consume written or aural texts, but rather will be explored as the perceptual and cognitive activities that structure our sense of time, space, self and environment. We will place a particular emphasis on reading and listening in contemporary digital culture by engaging selectively with fundamental concepts in critical theory, as well as recent work in media and sound studies.
WRI360H5: Finance and Writing
Examines organizational discourse with special attention to financial analysis and financial documents as rhetorical elements. Students will design and carry out primary research into organizations such as publicly listed companies and non-profit organizations and will examine different modes for reporting research findings. Principles of discourse analysis and genre theory provide a conceptual framework. Students do not need backgrounds in accounting or finance to manage this course.
WRI363H5: Communicating in a World of Data
This course examines how professionals in a variety of contexts communicate data. The course explores the growing relevance and allure of data in all its forms. Students will learn to interpret data to tell a story through numbers by creating infographics, writing informative articles from their own data mining, and presenting further findings at the end of the semester.
WRI365Y5: Editing: Principles and Practice
Examines theory and practice of editing in a professional communications environment. The course will consider principles of editing and the editorial process as it applies to various forms of writing, from daily news, to magazines, books, web pages and blogs. Study will include examination of the building blocks of an editor's skills - grammar, spelling, syntax, punctuation - and the means employed by an editor working with a writer to achieve clarity, accuracy and immediate comprehension.
WRI370H5: Writing about Place
Examines writing about geographic places and the multiple rhetorics --- scientific, historical, geographical, social, political, economic --- that come into play. Students will design and carry out original primary research to develop their writing projects.
WRI375H5: Climate Communication
Climate communication introduces students to the emergent and diverse field of professional communication around the ongoing climate crisis. Climate communication is an interdisciplinary field that includes public science, environmental sciences, activism, political economy, technology, and policy. Course assignments build skills in public communication, science and nature writing, and solutions-based climate journalism.
WRI380H5: Podcasting
This course offers the skills and techniques needed to script, record and publish podcasts to the Web. Students will design and carry out original primary research to script, edit and produce independent podcasts. The course also explores the growing popularity of podcasts, and modern societies’ shift into a secondary orality.
WRI390H5: Independent Studies
A research/writing project designed by the student in consultation with a faculty member. Independent Study students will produce a substantial body of writing at a high professional standard submitted in weekly installments and will develop their drafts in editing sessions with other Independent Studies students. Students will also design and carry out a reading program. Students may not take WRI390H5 and WRI391H5 in the same term.
WRI391H5: Independent Studies
A research/writing project designed by the student in consultation with a faculty member. Independent Study students will produce a substantial body of writing at a high professional standard submitted in weekly installments and will develop their drafts in editing sessions with other Independent Studies students. Students will also design and carry out a reading program. The Project Supervisor will be chosen in consultation with the Program Coordinator. Students may not take WRI390H5 and WRI391H5 in the same term.
WRI395H5: Re-languaging: Writing Across Cultures and Languages
Explores the practice and experience of writing across cultures, languages, and space. We examine writing as inflected through questions of translation, migration, colonialism, and social identity. Students will consider these themes through a historical and theoretical lens to sharpen analytic and writerly skills.
WRI399H5: Research Opportunity Program (ROP)
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their third year to work in the research project of a professor in return for 399H course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
WRI399Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This courses provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their third year to work in the research project of a professor in return for 399Y course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
WRI410H5: Professional Writing and Communication Internship 1
This course is a practical internship and is available only upon application from PWC Majors. Through a placement, students will apply their expertise in writing, editing and communications. Students must plan well in advance for their placement and work closely with CCIT/PWC placement officer to determine eligibility and suitability. A report of the placement, samples of work completed on the placement and a presentation about it will be required at the end of the placement. These, and the employer's assessment, will determine the course mark.
WRI411H5: Professional Writing and Communication Internship II
This course is a practical internship and is available only upon application from PWC Majors who have completed WRI410H5. The course is intended for students who have the opportunity to continue their WRI410H5 internship for a second semester. A report of the placement, samples of work completed on the placement and a presentation about it will be required at the end of the placement. These, and the employer's assessment, will determine the course mark.
WRI420H5: Making a Book
Examines principles, procedures and practices in book publishing. Students, working collaboratively, will collect material for, design, edit, typeset, print and assemble books. Students will consider philosophical, aesthetic, and economic factors that guide publishing, editing and design decisions. Students who do not receive formal permission may not take this course.
WRI430H5: Journalistic Investigation
This course examines principles and practices in journalistic investigation and writing, and provides an introduction to the main socio-political issues related to contemporary journalism. The course will consider various models and formats of journalistic writing. Students will design and carry out investigative projects that culminate in a series of journalistic articles. The course will also analyze the Canadian media industry and its evolving labour market.
WRI470H5: Writing Futures
This course examines speculative non-fiction and explores ways writers communicate about research, projections, and plans for humanity’s future. Students will consider how writing and other cultural forms act not only as “products” of science and reportage but as tools of knowledge-making. Students will produce portfolios that respond to and add to the literature of speculative non-fiction.
WRI483H5: Character, Narrator and Psychic Space
This course examines the central role of characterization and character development in nonfiction prose. Students explore the theory of psychic space, working to understand how the creation of that space operates to advance audience engagement. Classwork explores the furnishing and unfurnishing of psychic space in relation to meaning and characterization. Students focus on a small set of characters they develop over time via a writing portfolio. The course considers the impacts of place, incident, narrative arc, and complication-resolution models, with reference to theories by Gerke, French, Wolfe, and Van Manen. Weekly exercises and assignments focus on developing believable, memorable characters. Readings include a mix of student-authored and contemporary professional works.
WRI488H5: Food and Writing
This course examines narrative approaches to researching and writing about food-related topics. Students will design and carry out research projects that culminate in a series of life stories, narrative articles/chapters, or personal essays that investigate complex relationships surrounding food in society.
WRI490H5: Special Topics in Writing
An in-depth examination of topics in writing. Topics vary from year to year, and the content in any given year depends upon the instructor. The contact hours for this course may vary in terms of contact type (L, S, T, P) from year to year, but will be between 24-36 contact hours in total. See the UTM Timetable.
WRI499H5: Research Opportunity Program (ROP)
This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their fourth year to work in the research project of a professor in return for 499H course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
WRI499Y5: Research Opportunity Program
This courses provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their fourth year to work in the research project of a professor in return for 499Y course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.
|
Contact Us Office of the Registrar |